Fanboy Expo 2019 - Saturday Recap

Ok. My plan was to get a selfie with Walter Koenig (Chekov from Star Trek), an autograph from (and maybe selfie with) John de Lancie (Q from Star Trek) and Richard Dean Anderson (MacGyver, Stargate SG1), and an autograph and selfie with Cary Elwes. Here's what I was getting signed: A hardback copy of Elwes' book about the filming of the Princess Bride and a DVD set of "Legend," a short-lived TV show from the mid-90s starring Anderson and de Lancie. 

I got to Fanboy Expo around 1:45 p.m. First I got in line to meet John de Lancie, as the line was pretty short. Richard Dean Anderson's booth was right next to de Lancie's but he wasn't there. I figured I'd swing back by after meeting up with my friends Mary Beth and her mom Beth (here on out I will refer to them as "the Bowmans" 🙃), as I knew they were in line for Cary Elwes. I got an autograph and selfie with John and was smiling so huge that my cheeks were hurting afterward. I am such a fangirl and I own it proudly. After our photo (which wasn't actually a selfie--one of the volunteers took the photo with my camera) John glanced to his left and asked "Is Richard over there?" as he knew I'd want his autograph next on the DVD. He was most likely on break. I thanked John for coming to Knoxville, completely forgetting to say how much I loved his portrayal of Q, and went in search of the Bowmans.

John de Lancie 

They said the line was long but I had no idea HOW long until I found them. There were SO. MANY. PEOPLE. ahead of them. We exchanged hugs, and they invited me to be in their group picture with Cary. I said of course! So we stood and stood... and stood and stood... and stood some more. The line was moving pretty slowly. As time moved on they started panicking because they had to be at church (Mary Beth is the music leader). They had to leave no later than 5:00. We were SO close but still not close enough for them to be able to take advantage of the the packages that they had bought. So they gave me their fan package tickets, which included 2 autographs and 2 selfies with Cary. They told me which pictures they wanted autographed (and I totally forgot when I got up there and didn't trust my instinct and chose the wrong ones but hopefully they'll still like them 😭) and sweetly said their friend Noel and I could use their selfie tickets. Shortly before they left they came up with the idea to take selfies and then ask Cary to hold those up while I took a picture with him, so technically they would be "in" the picture with us. Genius!

Cary Elwes

When Noel and I finally got to the front, I handed in the two autograph tickets and then paid for my own autograph. I tried to hand over the selfie tickets but the woman had moved on to something else. I walked up to the next volunteer and held out all that I had--two photos for the Bowmans, my book, plus the two selfie tickets--and pleaded something like "Please tell me what to do next and where to go" because I was so very confused and discombobulated--and starstruck because Cary had come over to the table to sign things. They gave the photos and book to Cary and he smiled at me and started signing. Then he asked me my name and shook my hand, saying it was nice to meet me. I explained to him that the two extra autographs were for my friends who sadly had to leave the line before they made it to the front. He thought that was the nicest thing ever and complimented me. Next I asked him if he would hold the picture of the Bowmans--he said I could do it (a very judicious way of saying "No"). So we took that picture with me holding their picture up, using their friend Noel's phone (Noel didn't care to be in the photo). Afterward Cary asked me if he could hug me for being so nice and I was like WHY ARE YOU SO WONDERFUL?! AND OF COURSE! But then my brain shoved my heart out of the way and was like "HEY. FOCUS. You had TWO selfie tickets and you've only done one photo." So I spoke up and said "Um... I think I get two photos, right?" And the lady back at the beginning of the line went "You were supposed to give those to me!!" WOMAN. I literally showed you ALL FOUR TICKETS in my hand--you took two and then moved on to the next person. How is this MY fault? I remained calm but also stood my ground, because I hadn't yet received what I was entitled to. Cary was quick to diffuse the situation, saying we'd get it all figured out. Also he hadn't signed my book yet and the volunteer/photog pointed it out, so he did that. 

Then the lady said "Ok she has two photos," so Cary and I moved back into position and I gave the volunteer photographer *my* phone for this one. I asked Cary if I could hug him in this one and he said yes. I. Was. On. Cloud. Nine. He thanked me for being patient, I thanked him for coming to Knoxville, and then it was over. My cheeks were aching again but I didn't care cuz I was floating on air.

BEST. DAY. EVER.

Oh, that sweet air. It felt AMAZING to be out of that cramped line and have room to walk wherever I wanted. My feet were KILLING me but I was FREE! 

By this time it was almost 5:30 and I decided to see if I could get Richard Dean Anderson's autograph. I figured they'd closed the lines since the floor closed at 6 but I asked anyway, as I didn't see an "End of Line" sign. I walked up to two volunteers at a table and asked if the line had been cut off. I repeated myself, as the woman didn't hear me. Something like "I know it's close to 6 so I thought I'd ask." She snapped at me that the line was closed. "That's what I was ASKING. Thank you," I said and walked away. Don't get short with ME just because YOU can't hear. 🤬

So I have plans to go back tomorrow and get an autograph and picture with Richard, attend his panel, and get a picture with Walter. Cross your fingers! 

18 Questions for a New Year's Reflection

** ADAPTED FROM: 20 Questions for a New Year’s Eve Reflection http://www.incourage.me/2010/12/20-questions-for-a-new-years-eve-reflection-2.html **

Eighteen Questions for a New Year's Reflection

1. What was the single best thing that happened this past year? I received the Outstanding Adjunct Faculty award at Pellissippi State!

2. What was the single most challenging thing that happened? Relearning how to deal with migraines (after having not suffered from them for about a decade).

3. What was an unexpected joy this past year? I discovered a new (to me) band and they're now one of my favorites (We Are Scientists)!

4. What was an unexpected obstacle? A smaller course load in the fall semester.

5. Pick three words to describe 2016. Shock, loss, disbelief.

6. What were the best books you read this year? Dating An Alien Pop Star* by Kendra Saunders and Oh Myyy!: There Goes the Internet by George Takei.

7. With whom were your most valuable relationships? I always value my long-term relationships (parents, brother, best friends from elementary school) but some of the most valuable this past year were rekindled and renewed relationships with friends from college and grad school.

8. What was your biggest personal change from January to December of this past year? I lost about 35 lbs.

9. In what way(s) did you grow emotionally? I decided to be more upfront about things (instead of avoiding certain topics and conversations) while also deciding to close off parts of myself from people I can no longer trust.

10. In what way(s) did you grow spiritually? I finally learned why the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son was wrong in questioning of his father's actions (grace).

11. In what way(s) did you grow physically? I joined a gym and started working with an awesome trainer (Kellie B Fitness).

12. In what way(s) did you grow in your relationships with others? See #9.

13. What was the most enjoyable part of your work (both professionally and at home)? Professionally: Continuing to come up with ideas for making my Music Appreciation classes more engaging and working with new private students. At home: Getting rid of a bunch of stuff I no longer use (via Mercari, LetGo, and charity).

14. What was the most challenging part of your work (both professionally and at home)? Professionally: Enforcing new rules and figuring out which ones don't work. At home: Cutting down on clutter.

15. What was your single biggest time waster in your life this past year? Worrying about things over which I have no control (it's a favorite pastime).

16. What was the best way you used your time this past year? Working on my new website a bit at a time, over several months. It's now live! www.robynjames.com

17. What was biggest thing you learned this past year? I learned what attendance policies don't work for my courses (to my liking).

18. Create a phrase or statement that describes 2016 for you. You only have room to grow if you step outside of your comfort zone.

What about YOU?

*The Kindle version is currently FREE!

Teaching Nightmare

Okay, most recent dream. I was teaching at a new school and it was the first  day of classes. I was running late because I couldn't find my classroom.

I went to a room, sat down, and realized it was a Spanish class. But for some reason I stayed there for a while and listened! At some point, several students got up and moved around. I took this opportunity to leave. The teacher asked me where I was going and I replied on top of the hullabaloo "I'm a teacher." He sort of chuckled, then asked me to repeat myself. I said, a bit louder, "I'm a TEACHER!" He thought this was hilarious and proceeded to laugh in my face as I struggled to get out of the classroom.

I was carrying a purse, a bag with work materials, and my shoes. That's right, I'd been walking around this whole time in my stocking feet.

I wandered around for at LEAST 20 minutes looking for my room. It was listed as "MC" in my paperwork, which was new because apparently the original info given to me was incorrect. MC meant section M (of the building), room C. I went to a help desk and the dude made eye contact with me, totally ignored me, then walked away. I waved as if to say "Um, HELLO, I need help." A more accommodating woman showed up next. She explained that the dude decided I didn't need any help "because [I was] able to wave." What?!!

When I finally found the room, it looked like a fast food drive thru, set very close to other identical drive thrus. My class was standing around, but someone took me away to do something. I set my stuff down on a counter and that's when I realized that my shoes were missing. But I couldn't be bothered with that. I exclaimed to the person who was leading me God-knows-where that "I can't play music in that environment. It's a music class and I CAN'T TEACH A MUSIC CLASS WITHOUT PLAYING MUSIC!"

That's the last thing that happened before I woke up. This is actually a more elaborate version of a recurring stress dream I have, in which it's the first day of school and I can't find my class. I also often dream that it's the last day of classes and I've just discovered there was a class I was supposed to teach that I didn't know about. Gotta love being a teacher with an active imagination and lots of built-up anxiety!

Originally written April 10, 2015

Make the internet a better place...

Okay, I admit it. I'm on the internet a lot. Sometimes it's for work--uploading students' grades, searching for images to improve my powerpoints, updating Robyn James Trio records, etc. But it's usually for fun--reading about friends on Facebook, taking stupid quizzes, and reading BuzzFeed lists. I'm making a concerted effort to change my experience when using the internet.

Some of you have probably read about the person who stopped liking things on Facebook. There's also an article about a person who started liking things on Facebook. To each his/her own. Hopefully most of you know that many websites (including Facebook) track your web activity and then cater their ads to places you visit. Also, Facebook monitors everything you like and follow, and then suggests other pages based on that info. The person who stopped liking everything did so in order to see if his/her Facebook experience changed.

I don't remember that person's results, but I can tell you from personal experience that it gets better when you stop liking everything. Facebook can still tailor their ads to my shopping preferences, but it doesn't know what pages to suggest to me anymore. My feed used to be plastered with ads from some stupid boot store. Thankfully, those ads tell you which of your friends like the mentioned store. Once I stopped liking those friends' posts, the boot ads disappeared.

So the first goal of this post is to make sure my readers are informed. The second is to explain to my Facebook friends why I've been using a lot more emoji (Facebook calls them "stickers") lately. Instead of clicking "Like" on every post I find amusing, informative, or inspirational, I take the time to give a more detailed response by commenting. If I have something specific to say, I'll type that. But other times I just want to convey an emotion that the post elicited. So far I've found something to cover almost every reaction. Hopefully you now understand why there are so many monkeys, Snoopy faces, and other cartoonish characters all over your feed...

Also, it's just fun to make use of all the emoji out there. How can you not resist these?

Meep

Pusheen

Ya-Ya

TN Science Bowl 2014

Wanna feel old? Volunteer to help out with a grade school competition. Wanna feel old and stupid? Volunteer to help out with a grade school competition in a subject you never mastered.

I always did well in science, but it was not my favorite subject. For four years now, I've volunteered to help out with the TN Science Bowl (#TSB to the cool kids). I got involved through Pellissippi (where I work); every semester they send out emails asking for volunteers. I decided to respond one year, and the rest is history.

For those of you who don't know what a competition like this entails, it's basically like this: Teams from different high schools around the state gather and go head to head, answering questions in the topics of biology, chemistry, physics, math, earth science, general science, and astronomy. The teams have a very short amount of time to answer the toss-ups--as an observer, it seems like you blink and the timekeeper says "time." If a team correctly answers the toss-up, they get to answer a bonus question and are given more time for that. Whichever team has the most points at the end of two rounds advances to the next round. Eventually there is only one team left. The top three teams win money, as well as the winner of the Civility Award (which I'll explain later).

There are different roles that a volunteer can fill:

• Moderator
• Science Judge
• Rules Judge
• Scorekeeper
• Timekeeper
• Runner
• Crowd Control
• Civility Award Judge
• Registration

I've volunteered to be a Civility Award Judge all four years, though one year I was drafted to be Scorekeeper when one didn't show up. That was a stressful day, because I hadn't trained for the role of Scorekeeper! There were lots of rules to keep up with. A competing student actually had to correct me at one point because I had incorrectly awarded points to someone! #yikes

This is the first year since I started that I wasn't able to volunteer, so I thought I'd share some of the highlights of last year's Science Bowl, from a volunteer's point of view. All the Civility Award Judges met at 6:45 am (ugh) to register and go over the rules for evaluating the teams. Basically we observe the students interacting with each other and with all the adults, rate them on several aspects, and then tally our results to figure out the winner. Each judge is assigned several teams, and no team is observed twice. Most of these kids are very well-behaved, so it's really about looking for those who go above and beyond with their behavior/attitude.

In addition to adults who volunteered to be runners, there were also Boy Scouts who helped out. In the first room where I observed, this adorable Scout was serving as a runner. We both sat at a table in the back of the classroom, out of the way. Seriously, this kid was one of the sweetest kids I've ever met. Before the competition began, I chatted with him about what it's like to be a Boy Scout. Once the competition began, we sat there quietly playing with a puzzle that was given to all of the volunteers. It's called a Rubik's Snake or Twist and it's WAY too much fun. The Scout and I kept comparing shapes while the teams were hard at work answering questions. Here are a couple of my creations:

It's the letter "R." Can you see it? :)

I don't know what this one is. A train? A house?

I had a major #geek moment when one of the questions dealt with the second law of thermodynamics. For those of you who don't know, my favorite band's most recent album is entitled The 2nd Law. The overall theme of the album is energy use, entropy, and all that. I'm glad I was sitting at the back of the room so that no one could see me having a fangirl moment. #squee

The teams rang in using buzzers that were connected to a large box in front of the Science Judge. These buzzers were apparently very old because every year there's at least one malfunction. But last year, it was absolutely ridiculous. They wouldn't buzz when students pressed them, and then they buzzed when no one had touched them. It was funny at first but it got old pretty quickly. I wish someone would donate a new buzzer system! We blamed the malfunctions on the Ghost of Science Bowls Past...

Despite all the equipment errors and whatnot, it was a good day overall. There was even a kid dressed in a banana suit. I unfortunately didn't see him, but I'll bet it was hilarious! I'll bet he did it to psych out the other teams. Or just confuse them so they couldn't answer any questions?

Every year I ask myself, "Why do you get up before the sun to volunteer for something?" Then I watch all these talented kids compete and I remember. It's so rewarding to see them get excited about science. Oh, and the goodie bags and free doughnuts don't hurt either.

Got any favorite volunteer experiences to share?

Changing Priorities

I know it's been forever since I blogged and I'm sorry! I have a ton of dreams to share with you all. I just haven't had time to sit down and transfer them from the scrawled notes on my phone into readable blog narratives. So I'm not here to share a dream just yet. As my frequent readers know, I usually remember my dreams in great detail. And since it's currently 2:00 in the morning, I'm here to share a shorter message.

I don't make new year's resolutions. When I want to better myself I make the decision to do it right then, no matter what day of the year it is. Today (well, yesterday really) I decided not to waste my time when it comes to reading things on the internet. I send so many articles to my Kindle to read later (I do this so I don't have to stare at the computer screen for too long) that I'm way behind in my reading. To give you an idea: It's February and I'm still reading digests that I sent to myself in November.

The subject matter of the articles I save varies widely--anything from album reviews to social and political commentary to celebrity interviews to Wikipedia entries. I'm also not ashamed to admit that many of them are BuzzFeed lists. BuzzFeed is a great way to escape for a moment from grading papers and writing tests. But I get so caught up in reading "50 Things That Remind You Of Your Childhood" that I miss more important content like "How To Flip Your Classroom" or "How To Get Your Students To Practice."

So I've decided that if I see a BuzzFeed list or some kind of tell-all article about who Matt Bellamy is or isn't dating, I will read it at that moment or forget about it. I will no longer bookmark them or email them to myself. The articles with more important subject matter will be sent to my Kindle (via Instapaper, a great site).

My time is precious and my brain can only hold so much information, so why waste valuable space in my noggin (and hours of my long days) on reading about what stupid thing Kanye West did at the most recent award show?

What about you? Do you need to give up something in order to make space for things that really matter?

Muse dream with a Mozart ending (Warning: adult language)

I was sleeping in my dorm room. I awakened to the sound of someone getting in bed next to me. I could've pretended to stay asleep, but I wanted to know who was here and why. I turned and saw that it was Beth, one of my best friends from college. She and my senior year college roommate, Jennifer, were coming back from some kind of gathering. Then I remembered--it was Jennifer's birthday and I'd missed her party. But I was sick and hadn't been feeling well, hence my being in bed. It was dark outside and I tried to read the alarm clock. I think it said it was 5:30 in the morning. They had been partying hard, and they weren't done yet. Apparently they were just taking a break, and were returning shortly to play some kind of game. I was feeling better (and also feeling left out) and wanted to help celebrate Jennifer's birthday. So I asked what kind of game they were playing. They explained, and I decided to join them.

The game was being played in a large symphony hall with the usual slanted floors that went lower as you got to the stage. It involved using controllers that looked and felt just like real guitars. Apparently the game was kind of like Guitar Hero but with an actual band and orchestra on stage. The band on stage was Muse, much to my delight. A lot of my friends were there, including Julia, another best friend. Most of the players were in the audience (or maybe they were just spectators?) but for some reason I was on stage in front of the orchestra, stage right. I was being silly and dancing around like some rock guitarists do. It caught the attention of Matt (Muse's guitarist) and he smiled at me. This made me happy to no end, and I gyrated more with my guitar controller.

At one point, Matt and Dom (Muse's drummer; but if you know me at all, you already knew that) were yelling out something about someone named "Grace." They were doing it in time to the music and it was pretty funny. Julia, who is a relatively new Muse fan, asked me "Who's Grace?" She was pretty far away from me so I mouthed to her "She's a fan of the band." She couldn't understand me, so I mouthed it again. I didn't want to actually yell it because the music was very loud.

When the game was over, I didn't want to leave. I also wanted an excuse to get near the band and ask them where they were hanging out after they were done with this (apparently they were rehearsing with the orchestra for something). Morgan, the guy the band hires to play with them when they tour, was stage right (which is odd because in real life, he's always stage left), sitting at an upright piano (what, no grand?!). I noticed someone's guitar controller on the floor and saw my chance. I picked up the white guitar with black control knobs and looked for a stage hand to give it to. I found one, and mentioned that I found it and thought I should turn it in. The guy took it, and now was my chance because I was only a few steps away from Morgan. I screwed up my courage, and just then the conductor of the orchestra spotted me.

The conductor stopped the rehearsal and called me out. He yelled at me, saying that I was disrupting the rehearsal and bothering the band members. He humiliated me in front of my peers in the audience, the orchestra (which included colleagues of mine), and my favorite band on the planet. I turned to see Morgan looking right at me, a mix of anger and pity on his face.

I'd had it. The conductor was completely out of line and blew things way out of proportion. I stormed to the front of the stage, turned to the conductor, and yelled at the top of my lungs "You...are an asshole!" The audience met my outburst with rousing applause. I bowed graciously, then exited stage right. They continued applauding as I walked up the center aisle of the auditorium. Once I got to the top (the entrance to the hall), I had a wonderful idea. I swung open the doors, leaned over, and stuck my butt out toward the direction of everyone on stage, a la Mozart in the film Amadeus. I think I also shook my butt a bit for good measure. I was met with more applause as I left the hall.

Once outside the hall, I saw people seated around the area. I told several groups of them what had happened as I walked by and they all met me with smiles and pats on the back. I felt vindicated, and it felt good.

The End.

Kids, The Best Audience

My friend Lori asked me if I would visit the school where she teaches and tell the kids about what I do. They had several visitors throughout the month and each person did something to help the community. Lori wanted to include someone who wasn't exactly a policeman or fireman or doctor, but who still helped the community. I thought it was a great idea and I was free during the times that they wanted visitors, so I made my way to Ridge View Elementary School one Tuesday morning.

First things first: I am not a morning person. Add to that the fact that, on Tuesdays, I don't have anywhere to be until 2:00. So it was kind of a big deal that I was getting up early enough to be somewhere 45 minutes away at 9:30 am. It's good for me to get out in the community and spread the joy of music, so it was worth it. Also, the kids were super adorable so that helped make it worthwhile, too.

The drive was a pleasant one, and I found the school easily. I was buzzed in. I checked in on the computer, stuck my badge (sticker) on my shirt, and then followed Lori to the classroom. I would be talking to mostly kindergartners but also a 4th grade music class.

I told them that I teach college, perform around the community, and teach privately. I played lots of tunes for them. It was so cute because, when it was time for questions, most kids who raised their hands didn't have a question--they wanted to request a song. Also, some of them just wanted to tell me random facts about their lives.  A couple of the kids told me that they played guitar. I just kind of went "...all right...that's great! Any other questions?"

Some of the requested tunes: the Alphabet Song, Twinkle Twinkle, Baa Baa Black Sheep (and yes, all three of those use the same tune), several songs I didn't know including What Does the Fox Say (*groan*), Wagner's Bridal Chorus (since I play weddings), Mary Had a Little Lamb, Jingle Bells, and the Twelve Days of Christmas. I agreed to play Jingle Bells but I put my foot down when the Twelve Days came up. It's freakin' February, people!

The kids were well-behaved at the beginning but I think they got a little restless toward the end. Still, they were pretty much as attentive as I would expect kindergartners to be. And they sang along with several of the songs I played, including Rocky Top (you know I had to play that one).

After several requests for things I'd already played, Lori intervened and said "Okay, only raise your hand if you have a question to ask Miss Robyn." Some of the questions were good, like why was I wearing all black (I wore my concert black), when did I start playing, and why was the viola bigger than the violin. The cutest part is that some of them would raise their hand, wait patiently to be called on, and then just stare at me in silence when I actually called on them. Oh, and I got a good chuckle when I called on a boy by saying "Yes, in the purple shirt" and he looked down to see if he was indeed wearing a purple shirt.

All in all it was a fun time. They clapped enthusiastically after every tune I played (I wish all my audiences were like that) and one kid even shouted out "Bravo! Bravo!" a few times. It was great when the kids sang along, and I'm hoping that some of them go home and ask their parents/guardians if they can start violin or viola lessons.

Do you remember any of the visitors that came to your school when you were little? Who was your favorite?

Dream: Aliens take over, but at least they like Eminem.

I was typing up this dream recollection as a status update on Facebook. But I kept remembering more and more details, and it was getting way too long. So here you go.

I dreamt that the world was taken over by an oppressive alien force. We were herded like cattle into a large meeting hall. On the floor, I found a couple of large coins. I thought they were silver dollars, but they were actually too big. There was the image of some alien ruler on one side, and some worshipful sayings were engraved on both sides. I noticed that part of the coin was hollow and transparent. The large hall was decorated with sayings and more images of (what I guess were) alien leaders. I held up the transparent part of the coin and looked through it at an empty space on one of the walls in between some sayings and leaders' images. That's when I discovered that there were hidden messages on the walls. I found two separate ones, and I guessed that they were messages from a previously oppressed people on how to survive and/or overthrow the new government.

I'm not sure how we got the message but we were all instructed to wear tall boots to the meeting hall. A lot of people either didn't get the message or couldn't/wouldn't comply. I followed the instructions and put some knee-high leather boots on. Everyone was lined up and we stood and waited to go through some kind of processing center. While we waited, a bunch of ducks came into the room and starting nipping at our heels and biting people. That's when I realized why we were instructed to wear the boots. While other people were attacked and mangled, I was simply annoyed.

When my turn came up to enter the processing center, I was a little confused as to which window to go to. Someone was calling the name "Annabelle" and I wasn't sure if that was my name or not--I had found some credentials at some point and was carrying the papers with me. Either I was instructed to take on this new identity or I had decided to on my own. So I scrambled to find the papers as the alien (who, if I remember correctly, was humanoid and didn't look too other-worldly) continued to call out for Annabelle and looked at me questioningly. The name on the papers was something like "Abbe Abhe." I decided that perhaps "Abbe" was short for Annabelle and I walked up to the window. I explained to the alien that I was used to being called "Abbe" and was confused when I heard "Annabelle." Next I was at an empty window, looking at some large, paper-towel-roll-looking things at an alien desk. I picked up one of the rolls and there was some cool sound effect as a coffee pot was revealed to me. I suddenly realized that I shouldn't be messing with the aliens' stuff so I quickly put the roll back. Next we were informed about our new lives: clothing, curfew, and whatnot. Then we were taken to our new homes (men were to live on one side of town, women on the other) in large vans.

Before we got into the vans, we were standing outside, enjoying what we thought might be our last moments of freedom. I walked up some steps, barefoot in the snow (they took my boots for some reason, and I think some of my clothes, too). The snow wasn't as cold as I was expecting it to be. There was music playing, though I'm not sure where it was coming from. It was Eminem, and the musical sample that was played over and over was taken from a video game I play called My Singing Monsters. I was bouncing up and down and dancing with this guy as we ascended the stairs to the street. "At least we still have music," I noted.

In the vans there were cartoon instructional videos playing on small TV screens. The first scene was about how to treat a paper cut. It showed the scenario and then asked how we should handle it. The narrator asked "What would you do if, after a few days, the cut was worse?" and "What would you do if, after one day, the cut was the same?" The dark-haired cartoon woman was shown peeling off her bandaid to reveal a worse cut, and then a cut that was the same. One of the choices for how to treat the cut was "Bite it and die." The woman was seated in a bathroom. She removed the bandage from her knee (who gets a paper cut on their knee?), bent over, and began to feast on the wound.

The next thing I remember is being in a dormitory which also had classrooms. I knew there had been exams going on earlier that day. I was poking my head in the classrooms, seeing what they looked like post-exams. There were mannequins in the seats (or perhaps they were eerie, petrified students?) and they each had sheets of paper in front of them with problems scribbled from the board. I looked at one student's sheet and was deciding if their answer was correct or not.

Next I was in my dorm room. It was a small, square room with plain white walls and no decorations. I don't think there was any furniture either. For some reason all of the clothes I'd been wearing had been taken. It was early in the morning (I knew this because it was still dark outside, but I'd apparently been asleep for a while). I wondered if the classroom across the hall from me was empty. I don't know why I wanted to get in it, but for some reason I did. I guessed that, because of the hour, the room would be abandoned and no one would see me in my birthday suit. Also of note: I didn't have my glasses on and I'm very nearsighted. So I tiptoed across the hall. I gently opened the door and squinted as I looked around, trying to see what was in there. Then I noticed light coming from a lamp to my right and a blurry figure that might have been a person. I gasped softly and made my way back out as quickly but quietly as I could.

Later on in my dorm room, which was suddenly the size of a decent apartment, I was with my friend Kady and we were talking about something. We were both clothed, thankfully! Kady tried to open the blinds by turning some kind of knob on the wall near the top of the window. I went "Are you trying to do this?" and grabbed the stick you use to open and close blinds. As I turned it, the vertical blinds in the middle opened (there were also some horizontal blinds on the sides) and she went "Yes!"

---

I couldn't make this stuff up, y'all. I'm a decent writer but I'm not that creative! What's the weirdest dream you've ever had?

Perfect Timing

So, I've had a standing date with Wil Wheaton every Wednesday for a couple of months. No, not the real Wil Wheaton (I wish!). But his voice. I have a 90-minute commute on Wednesday nights for work (90 minutes there and 90 minutes back, 4 hours later) and although I have plenty of CDs I could listen to, I figured music would get old after a while. So I decided I'd listen to audiobooks. Now, which ones to listen to? I went through my iTunes folders and found a couple of Wil Wheaton audiobooks. I purchased them a while ago but then my iPod bit the dust and I kind of forgot about them. Anyway, I absolutely adore Wil (he was my first celeb crush EVAR), so it made perfect sense to start my weekly treks (har har) with his books before moving on to other items on my to-read list (the Harry Potter series is next).

I started with the audiobook for Just A Geek, which is the first of Wil's books I ever owned (thanks to my beloved brother for buying it for me all those years ago!). It took several weeks to get through the whole thing, as I expected. I had to stop and start it many times, and backtrack in some places. Like the time I had Winamp on shuffle for some reason and it jumped from like, chapter 3 to chapter 9.

I'd been worried that I'd finish the book mid-trip and not be able to switch to something else. I was listening via my tablet, which I'd plugged into the AUX port in my Jetta, so changing to another book while driving wasn't as easy as grabbing a new CD and switching it out for the current one. Thankfully I didn't have to worry about this at all. After listening to the FAQs and the interviews and the bloopers, the last track ended just as I pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex. It was the perfect end to a wonderful journey (Journey's End, BAM! Didn't even plan that one!). Sometimes it's the little things in life, like an audiobook synching up perfectly with my trip home, that make me smile. :)

What's made you smile this week?

Why's everybody always pickin' on me?

Okay, time for another weird dream. For those of you who aren't Musers, Dom = drummer of Muse. Chris = bass player of Muse. Matt = lead singer and guitarist of Muse.

---
I dreamt I was second row center for a private soundcheck for Muse. The first thing I remember though is being in a diner-type room with my mom. There were lots of different sodas to pick from. We were the only ones in the place; it's like it wasn't even open. It was in the backstage area of the soundcheck. I think I chose an orange soda.

Next I went to the soundcheck. For some reason Dom wasn't on the drums. The guy who was on drums wasn't playing them--he was playing a bass that wasn't plugged in. But someone was playing drums because I heard them during the song! And Chris was missing too--some other guy was in his place. At first I was talking to a roadie near the diner and asking where Dom was, saying he was my fave or something. The roadie walked away after a while and I was like "Hey, you're cute, too!" Too little, too late, haha! Then I was sitting down and Matt (a young Matt) was talking to us and having contests to win stuff. This guy behind me was harassing me. Like, a lot. Flicking snot on me, spitting on me. Finally Matt said I could move to the front row and that security could take that guy out. Then the guy tried to touch my face and I snapped at him. The security guy was like "Did he touch her again?" and everyone around me went "YES!" I went to get a drink from the diner and when I got back I decided to stay with my friends on the second row instead of taking Matt up on his invitation to sit on the front row. I also took my hair down. Unfortunately security hadn't taken the annoying guy away. I felt him pull my hair once I sat down but ignored him.

Next I remember being in a mall and looking all over for a water fountain. Once I finally found one I was told it was for employees only. I asked where a public one was and the guy didn't know. I asked if I could take a cup from the employee area and use it you get water elsewhere. He said no. I was like "What if I give you a dollar for it? I'm sure it cost like, 7 cents to make." He was like "I didn't pay for the cups." So I countered "Give it to your boss and he can give it to whoever buys the cups and they can handle it. I'm offering to pay you for a cup that no one is going to miss." It was getting ridiculous. I don't think I ever got the cup.

Next I was being harassed again, this time by three young white guys, maybe early college age. I think the water fountain guy sent them after me. Anyway, I thought Maybe if I just leave the mall, they'll leave me alone. But once I was outside they still bothered me. By this time I was starting to wake up so I had some control over the dream. I beat the guys up one at a time, taking the last guy's shoes. He said he wanted them back so I spit on the sole of one and offered it to him. This might have been the guy from soundcheck who spit on me.

They finally left me alone and then I was outside, in the dark, looking for my car. I hadn't come out of the mall where I entered; I was just trying to get away from those guys. As I wandered around the parking area I ran into this group of young black guys (3 or 4 of them). I asked if I could walk with them while I looked for my car, in case those other guys came back to bother me again. They said yes and then I started bragging about how I'd beaten up the guys. Then I woke up.

----
Weird one, huh? And why was everybody after me?!?!

New Dream: Meeting Chris Wolstenholme of Muse!

Okay, so I was in the bar of some restaurant (I'm assuming I was in Knoxville, my current place of residence). It was dimly lit and I was walking around looking for a place to sit. I looked up at one of the flat screen TVs to see Muse performing "Uprising" live on an awards show. Of course I geeked out a little on the inside. But then I turned to see the Wolstenbeast himself walking around the bar area. I went up to him and asked "If you're here, then who's playing bass [with the band]?" I thought he'd say "Morgan" but he said some name I didn't recognize. Apparently this instantly made us friends because he let me hang around him like a little puppy. We stood and talked a little bit and he also took pictures with a few other fans. Then I got my brother to take a picture of us with my camera. The other fans just kind of stood next to him but I pulled a Lisa "Bellamy" Smith :) and wrapped my arms around his neck. He was sweaty for some reason but I didn't care (okay, maybe I minded a little bit, but I got over it quickly because it was the WOLSTENBEAST). He leaned over a bit (he had to, or I wouldn't have been able to reach around his neck) and went "C'mon camera!" because my brother was having trouble taking the picture.

With the picture finally secured, we sat down at this table we'd been standing near. We talked about some other things, most of which I've forgotten now. But I know I confirmed that his and Dom's birthdays are in December and then asked him how old they were (even though I already knew all of this). I was remarking on how most of the bands I like have members way older than me or way younger, so I was glad I'm in the same age range as the members of Muse. I mentioned how I'd love to meet the rest of the band but they wouldn't be showing up here because the awards show was in a different city. Chris said "You should come to our show on Thursday." I asked where it was going to be, thinking he'd say Nashville or Atlanta. "Livin," he replied. [Those of you in real life know this is a fictional city; however, Dream Robyn knew that this was a city in the UK.] I was like "Chris, I can't afford to go all the way to the UK just to see you guys! I'm a poor teacher!!" Then I changed my tune and said something along the lines of "Unless I can be Dom's girlfriend and then he would probably pay my way...and then I'd definitely meet all the guys..." I don't remember Chris's response to that but soon after he had to go. I was thinking about asking if we could exchange phone numbers so we could text (I thought he might actually say yes), but I didn't get up the courage to do it. By this time my mouth had become full of some kind of white, crusty substance. I mean, literally, my mouth was full of it, and it was making it hard to talk. Oh yeah, and if I was talking to you, you could totally see the stuff. So of course Chris was all WTH and I'm trying to talk around it. But it just kept getting worse; it was like the more I talked the more stuff showed up. I quickly turned around and tried to spit a bunch of it out (gross, LOL) and then continue talking, but it didn't help much. Now Chris was walking away (he didn't even say goodbye) toward a back exit of some kind and I was chasing after him. He went through a set of swinging double doors (like he was entering the restaurant's kitchen) and I went through them as well. He had disappeared though. I yelled into the darkness of a long hallway "My name is Robyn, by the way!"

And that's how my dream ended. Oh, well. Chris was really nice up until that crusty stuff showed up. That's happened to me in dreams before but not in years. It was funny when I woke up but I was MAD in the dream!

Muse: Live at Olympic Stadium REVIEW

Since I don't own any official Muse tee shirts (yet) I donned my "#1 Dom Fan" shirt and headed to Franklin, TN (which is outside of Nashville).

First of all, I expected to see more people there. The show started at 8:00 and I got there at 7:15 in hopes of getting a good seat. When I walked in, there were four other people in the theater. The mother cheered "Yay, another Muse fan!" and I responded "Yay, Musers!" She said they'd been there since like, 5:00 because they expected a crowd, too. Eventually the theater filled up with more people. I'd say maybe 40-50 total?

Anyway, I chatted with the lady and the three younger people (I almost called them "kids" but I'm trying not to do that to every young person I see) for a while. They were at the Nashville show back in September like I was. They also saw the guys in Nashville a couple of years ago. When the woman asked me if I was there, I had to admit "I didn't know Muse existed then!" It feels like I've been a fan forever, but it's really only been a couple years.

Carmike designated the smallest theater with the smallest screen for the showing...losers. And the sound was not loud enough. Also, I couldn't tell you if it was in 4K or not. It looked really clear, but I have nothing to compare it to (haven't seen a movie in ages). Oh yeah, and I found out that tickets were only $8 when they first went on sale. When I bought my ticket Tuesday afternoon, it was $12.50. Not cool.

Okay, onto the show. Is there anything Morgan Nicholls can't do? He sang a lot (like in Madness--he's doing the "m-m-m-mad" part) and also played guitar, cabasa, drums, tambourine, and glockenspiel. And probably other things I didn't even see. I totally have a crush on that man sheerly because of his skills.

I finally know during which songs Dom comes out and plays drums on the thrust. I've asked several fans on their pictures and no one ever gets back to me. It's for Guiding Light and Undisclosed Desires.

I'm so glad (but also jealous) that they played Animals! I've never heard it live and it's one of my favorite songs. I thought the visuals were really cool, and the guy throwing money around was cool, too. But it was weird when he fell on the floor and pretended to be dead, and then Chris walked up and played Man with a Harmonica.* It was just awkward. I also wonder when the guy got up and left (of course they didn't show that).

During Guiding Light, an acrobat was dancing around while hanging from a light bulb. The dancing was awesome. The light bulb was a bit cheesy in my opinion. Oooh, Guiding Light bulb. *ba-dum-ching*

I was glad they did Feeling Good, but the dramatization with the lady drinking gasoline at the end seemed out of place. Was it supposed to be ironic?

After the first barrier run in Undisclosed Desires, Matt went under the stage and sang to the Animals man and the Feeling Good woman, who were lying in coffins propped up. Um...weird?

I looked for the infamous Lisa (Muser who's been to over 100 shows!) but I never spotted her. I've heard she made an appearance in Starlight, so I'll be sure to look for it when I get the DVD.

I totally didn't know that Matt used a 7-string guitar for Supremacy and Survival. Sooooo cool. Oh, and in Survival he sang the octave at the very end (the high note from the album)! I had to contain a squeal of delight...

Even though I saw it live in Nashville, it was still so awesome to see the armies of Matt, Chris, and Dom during Uprising. I wonder how long it took Tom Kirk to put all that together? Oh, and speaking of the visuals, seeing President Obama and the Pope dancing to Panic Station was great. I was cackling the whole time, as was the lady next to me.

Back to Morgan for a bit--he played several parts that I thought Matt would play. For example, the guitar in Starlight. At the end of Uprising, Matt handed his guitar to a stage hand and I expected him to get another one in return. When he didn't, I started wracking my brain trying to think what other songs there were where he doesn't play guitar (since they'd already done Undisclosed Desires and Follow Me). So when Starlight began, I was a little confused. I was thinking, "Are they not going to have guitar on it at all?"

I thought it was so cute at the end when Dom took pictures of the crowd with his iPhone. And that's my remembrance! Hope you enjoyed it.


*Does anyone else get bored during Man with a Harmonica? What is the big deal? Chris plays two whole notes. Whoop-de-doo. Am I missing something??

MUSE in Nashville

Alrighty, it's finally time for the recap of my amazing night with the best band in the world! I put the setlist near the bottom of the post. For a complete photo album, check out my Facebook photos.

As soon as Muse made their new Southeast US tour dates public I marked my calendar for the day the Nashville tickets went on sale (April) and snatched them up as soon as the fan pre-sale began. It's a little over a couple hours away for me, and the show was on a Friday night, so it worked really well. I also entered the contest (with that stupid orb game--some of you know what I'm talking about) to win a chance to meet the guys and whatnot in Atlanta, which would've been the Wednesday before. Obviously I didn't win. But there's always next time!

So I drove over to Nashville Friday afternoon, as soon as I was done teaching for the day. I got really confused because I was leaving at 3:00 and my GPS said that I would arrive at 4:15. Okay, maybe Google Maps was off a little bit in the time estimate, I thought to myself. But once I got on I-40, it said I'd be on it for 153 miles. I can't go that far in an hour and 15 minutes! What is going ON? Then it occurred to me. Nashville is in Central Time. My GPS was telling me my arrival time in the tie zone of my destination. Finally convinced that I wasn't going crazy, my brain resumed its normal chatter as I drove west to Nashville.

When I got to my hotel (Double Tree--yay, cookies!) I got settled in and waited for my friend Julia (my bestie who was driving in from Virginia) to arrive. After she arrived we both took showers and then did some taxi research. Now, for those of you who don't know, we had terrible luck with the taxi company we chose when we went to see Justin Timberlake and Jay Z in Baltimore. Well, things weren't much better this time. The dispatcher didn't cut us off and hang up on us (twice) like in Baltimore, but the cab driver got really exasperated when we told him we were paying by credit card. We specifically asked for a cab which took credit cards when we made the reservation but this guy's credit card reader wasn't working. So he's complaining and going "Are you sure you don't have any cash?" I did have cash, but I wasn't about to use it because he should've had a working card reader. If your reader isn't working, you tell your supervisor so they don't send you to a customer who wants to pay by credit card. Isn't that a simple concept? Anyway, he got a very low tip because he practically treated us like it was all our fault.

We finally got to the Bridgestone Arena. I took a few pictures while outside, because downtown Nashville is so bright!

Julia and I had VIP tickets that I purchased through the MUSE website. The "VIP" label meant that we got primo seats in the first few rows of the lower bowl, we had access to a pre-show party with special merchandise and dinner, and we got some freebies (water bottle, tote bag, limited edition poster). Will I be using that tote bag and water bottle every day for work? You betcha!

Getting our actual tickets was a bit confusing. My paperwork said to go to Will Call, then go check in at the VIP table. Well, Will Call didn't have our tickets; the VIP table did. So why did the paper say to go to Will Call? Anyway, we went to the VIP table (which we passed to go to Will Call), got our goodies, and then attempted to find the VIP party. More confusion ensued.

After asking for directions, we finally found the "party." It was in a small, dimly lit room near the entrance to the floor seats (well, not seats, because it was standing only on the floor...but you know what I mean). There was a huge backdrop with "MUSE" on it, with lights all around and different images showing in the word MUSE. Here's a slightly fuzzy picture of it:

The room had blown up professional photos of the guys from earlier on the tour. There was no seating; only tables made for standing at. There were also TV screens showing live footage of the band (it later occurred to me that this was from H.A.A.R.P.). As we walked in they were playing Take a Bow, then the video started over.

The "dinner" was nachos and an assortment of toppings (salsas, guacamole, a big vat of queso, sour cream, and a big vat of chili). There was no VIP shopping area with special merchandise that I could see, but that's okay. I didn't really plan on spending any more money than I'd already spent anyway!

Dinner

Julia got us drinks with double shots so I quickly ate some nachos and chili to absorb some of the alcohol! ;-) While we were standing around feeling underwhelmed by the "party," this tall guy came over and remarked on how odd it was to be showing live footage of the band at a pre-concert party. We agreed and he asked what we'd prefer. Actually, he asked me, kind of ignoring Julia. I couldn't think of anything besides music videos. Julia suggested interviews with the guys, which I think is a great idea. We chatted a bit more and then he left us to go back to his group of friends. It was sort of weird because I felt like we were being interviewed by a member of the media or something. He had a VIP wristband like we did but he was also wearing some kind of lanyard.

Anyway, I ate a little more and then we headed out. As we left, a nice gentleman who worked there told us how to get to our seats. Once we got to our seats (front row of Section 105) we met a young girl who had a custom tee shirt like mine--it said "I ♥ MUSE" and had the show location and date and whatnot. She said her dad brought her. I marveled at this because my dad would not take me to a Muse show! :-D We struck up a conversation with the girl and found out that her name was also Julia. Her dad came back from wherever he had gone and we told him how cool he was for bringing his daughter to the show. He said if he wasn't also a fan, he probably wouldn't have done it!

Throughout the show I told Julia (bestie) what some of the songs were, since she only owns the two most recent albums. I also filled Julia (teen) in on a couple (Agitated and Neutron Star Collision) because they were from albums she didn't have.

They had the pyramid and showed ninja Dom but he didn't change into his red suit. I was disappointed... But I'm so glad they played Agitated, since I'd heard that Charlotte and Atlanta got it. I was hoping for New Born, Animals, or Undisclosed Desires but alas, none of them were played. I did get some other faves, though--Panic Station and Supermassive Black Hole. I stood almost the entire time, which is a big deal for my tired, old feet. I only sat down twice! And before I went to bed Julia (bestie) made me take Advil so my feet wouldn't hate me the next day. Thanks, Julia!

So about 4-5 songs into the show I realized I hadn't been keeping track of the set list. Thankfully Julia (teen) was. I gave her my email so she could send it to me. Also, it was posted on one of my Facebook Muser groups so I could double check everything. Glad it all worked out!

The show was AMAZING, as if we would expect anything less from our boys. :-) The show started out with the pyramid on the floor, and they showed video as Isolated System played. Then the pyramid went dark, turned red, then began to rise. The band played Supremacy as this all took place. During the show the pyramid changed shapes and whatnot, showing different images depending on the song. For Madness Matt put on the word glasses and the lyrics also showed up on the pyramid. For Survival the faces singing "So I...told you..." and "You were warned and didn't listen" showed up.

There were no guitar-throwing or amp-destroying antics at this show unfortunately. The most we got was Matt spinning the amp around and causing a mini light show during one song (can't remember which one it was, sorry).

When Matt went to the piano I got really excited. I love it when he plays piano! Then I was so shocked when they played Neutron Star Collision. Some fans don't like it because it was used for one of the Twilight movies, but it's still a beautiful song. And Matt didn't write it for Twilight as some people think. According to the article about the song on MuseWiki, Matt wrote it about a girl he'd broken up with a few months prior.

Anyway, back to the music. Here's the setlist:

Isolated System
Supremacy
Supermassive Black Hole
The Star-Spangled Banner + Hysteria
Panic Station
Resistance
Man with a Harmonica + Knights of Cydonia
Montpellier Jam + Feeling Good
Follow Me
Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)
Liquid State
Madness
Time Is Running Out
Unnatural Selection
Agitated + Freedom outro
Uprising 

Encore
Unsustainable
Starlight
Survival

Other interesting tidbits: There was this guy sitting behind us who totally hit on Julia (bestie), which is weird because he was sitting with his girlfriend. At least, we assume it was his girlfriend because apparently he had his arms around her the whole show...

Before the show Julia (bestie) was remarking how cute this guy was who was on the floor in front of us. She tried to inconspicuously take his picture (from behind) with her phone but the flash went off. He actually turned around and said something like "Did you get a good shot?" I nearly died laughing.

Also, the nice gentleman from VIP who told us how to find our seats showed up on the floor about halfway through the show. We talked to him afterward. He said once he was done at the VIP room he was able to come out and watch the rest of the show. He also said he had as much fun watching us as he did watching the band. It wasn't as creepy as it sounds, I promise... Anyway, we shook his hand and made our way out.

I then slept like a ROCK because I had jumped, sung, and screamed my heart out for those boys. Did I mention that I love Muse? Because I kind of do. I hope you do, too. :-)

Hawaiian Vacation, Part 3

The seventh and final day, Friday, was a bit low key. It was our second day at port in Nawiliwili and Mom and I stayed on the ship. I went to the second art auction put on by Park West. This time I had more champagne and, perhaps because of the champagne, I actually purchased some art! :-) Here's what I should be receiving in a few weeks (anyone wanna help me choose frames for them?):

• Regal I by Peter Nixon
• Athena II by Peter Nixon
• Dove in Flight by Zamy Steynovitz (sorry, the link was taken down from the website)

The auctioneer gave away prizes throughout the event. He also promised a piece of art and a bottle of champagne to the loudest/most enthusiastic participant (he did this at the first auction as well). I decided to try to win this time around and I clapped and yelled for everything. Unfortunately, the auctioneer thought it was the people next to me making that noise and they won the competition (they hardly made any sounds at all!). There is a happy ending to this story, though--I had befriended a young lady from that group and she told me when she won that she doesn't drink. I jokingly said "I'll gladly take the champagne off your hands!" So after she went to claim her prize, she walked over to me and handed me to huge bottle of champagne. How nice!

After the auction, the ship made a pass of Nā Pali; first on the port side and then on the starboard side. I got some good shots, fortunately.

I had a yellow notepad on which I'd been taking notes for the whole cruise. At the end of Friday, I wrote "Three glasses of champagne, 1 glass of wine, and 3 works of art." :-D

One other thing of note from the cruise: Our steward, Gerry, was a really helpful guy. He also made towel animals for us every day. Be sure to check out my photo album on Facebook to see them all!

On Saturday, we docked at Honolulu again and disembarked. I was sad to leave but happy to have had such a wonderful experience with my mom. Thankfully the fun wasn't all over just yet! We had to disembark that morning but our planes didn't leave until after 10 that night. So we took one last excursion--the Grand Circle Island Tour. It took us all the way around the island of Oahu. The picture to the left is a couple of volcanic rock islands off the coast. Here are some interesting things I learned on the tour:

• Waikiki Beach is man-made. They bring in sand every 6 years.
• Most of the palm trees are non-native (like these fishtail palm trees to the right).
• When taking this tour, you should sit on the right side of the bus, so you can get pictures of the beautiful water and not just the mountains. :-p
• Billboards are illegal and RVs are not allowed in parks.

At the end of that excursion we were taken to the airport. We arrived somewhere around 5:30. Then Mom and I had dinner and wasted time until it was time to go to our separate gates. This is where things got even more interesting (but not in a good way).

My flight was to depart at 10:15. We boarded around 9:50. We taxied to the runway and I thought we'd be leaving soon. Then the captian announced that there was a sensor on the front of the plane that wasn't working properly and that we had taxied back to the gate to have the problem looked at. A few moments later he said it would take about 40 minutes to look into and that we could leave the plane if we wanted to. Since it was only 40 minutes, I decided to stay put. Two hours later, the captain announced that the problem couldn't be fixed and that the flight was cancelled (sound familiar?). Then the gate agent told us that there was a convention in Honolulu and that all the hotels in town were full (also sound familiar?). So I got to spend the night in the Honolulu airport. Being stranded in Hawaii might not be such a bad thing, but being stuck in the airport makes it a bit less enjoyable.

I called the number they gave us to rebook my itinerary. The soonest they could get me off the island was 12:30 Sunday afternoon, and that's if I was willing to change airlines (which I'd vowed I'd never do again after the trip to Honolulu). I was desperate so I took it. Then I tried to figure out what I was going to do for the next 11 hours. I decided that sleep was a good start. I put my suitcase behind me and my new Hawaii bag under my head and attempted to sleep on the floor. It was cold and very hard. Eventually I gave up on the floor and went to a chair. The armrests were in the way and I couldn't get comfortable. Next I tried this weird-looking plastic chair on the end of the regular chairs:

I put my suitcase beside the chair, put my Hawaii bag on top of it for a pillow, and put my legs over the arm of the first black chair. Still not very comfortable, so I took some shirts out of my suitcase and used them as cushions under my head and my hipbone. I slept this way for about two hours, which is surprising considering that the airport was piping in Hawaiian music the whole time (nothing against Hawaiian music...hearing music ad nauseum will turn me off of anything, except Muse).

After that couple of hours of non-restful sleep, I decided I couldn't stand it anymore. I got up and chatted with another couple who'd been on the canceled flight. The wife said "I used to enjoy Hawaiian music. Now I think I hate it." I wholeheartedly agreed with her. She and her husband then went upstairs to try their luck with getting back into a gate. I played on my Kindle for a while, then decided I'd go upstairs as well. I put my bag through the agriculture screening (for a second time) and checked in at the United counter. Then I went to my gate. It took a while to get to the gate because the Honolulu airport is very spread out. I guess the one good thing about that is that since the food and shop areas were so far from the gate, it wasted time walking back and forth.

We were each given $20 in meal vouchers because of the canceled flight. As if that made up for it. We should've been given travel vouchers as well. But that's beside the point... Around 7 am I decided I'd use one of the vouchers to get some breakfast. I went to Starbucks (one of the few places open) and got a chai latte and a cinnamon twist. When I returned to the gate, I wasn't allowed to enter. There was an international flight coming in and because of customs or something, no one was allowed inside the gate. I was told the gate would open at 9. So I found a seat outside the gate, plugged my phone in to charge, and called my dad.

After 9, I went into the gate and played with my Kindle some more. It really helped the time to pass, thankfully. Somewhere around 10:30 or so I went to one of the lobby stores and tried to purchase a Sudoku book and some macadamia nuts with a voucher. The clerk told me that I couldn't use my voucher there, despite the fact that the gate agent told me I could use the vouchers "anywhere in the airport." I already had my heart set on the items, so I put them on my credit card. Then I went to Burger King and spent the rest of the vouchers on lunch. I got a kid's meal and a little Cinnabon even though I wasn't that hungry. I wanted to use as much of the voucher as possible, you know? I ate the hamburger and fries slowly and then had the Cinnabon closer to time to board.

I can thankfully say that there were no more catastrophes after that. We boarded the plane for the 12:30 flight and there were no instrument malfunctions. Even though I was now going to San Francisco instead of Phoenix for the first leg of my trip, I didn't get to see my mom (who had flown to San Francisco and then spent the night at a hotel before finishing her trip home). But I made it safely home on Monday morning instead of Sunday evening, and then immediately went back to bed. I spent the entire day catching up on sleep, resumed life on Tuesday, then went on another trip Wednesday (that's another story for another day!)...

Despite that adventure at the end, my overall Hawaiian trip was a success. I definitely want to go back to Hawaii, and maybe just visit one island this time. So, to the beautiful state of Hawaii, I say "Ahui ho!" (Until we meet again!)

Hawaiian Vacation, Part 2

Now to continue with my Hawaiian adventure!

The fourth day, Tuesday, was spent in Hilo (the north side of Hawaii, the Big Island). We didn't have an excursion planned but we wanted to get off the ship after a long day at sea the day before, so we took a bus to downtown Hilo. A young lady at Guest Services on the ship said there wasn't much to do, and she was right! We walked around a bit and stopped by a farmer's market, and then walked around some more.

Farmer's Market

We also stopped by a place called Cafe Pesto. Mom had lemonade and I had some passion fruit sorbet. It was soooo good. Later, while Mom was resting in the stateroom, I took a bus by myself to a more populated part of Hilo. I needed some astringent since the airport people had inspected mine and left it open for it to spill inside my suitcase (at least my suitcase smelled nice and was properly exfoliated). So I went to WalMart to get the astringent. I also bought a bathing suit, which I then proceeded to not wear for the rest of the cruise. I tried to get back to the ship for a Thomas Kinkade seminar given by Park West but I missed the 3:00 bus and had to wait 30 minutes for the next one (the seminar was at 4:00). I missed the seminar, but I did get to talk to a nice Australian couple while waiting for the 3:30 bus. Also, I heard about another auction on Friday so I decided to attend that.

On the fifth day, Wednesday, we arrived at Kona, Hawaii (the southern side of the Big Island). There was no dock this time, so they used tender boats to get us to and from the shore. They were wobbly to say the least...

Tender boat

Mom and I had an excursion planned--a bus tour. I felt it was a little disappointing because there were only three stops (Kona Coffee, the Painted Church, and Puuhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park). But we got to see a lot of the island inbetween the stops. I was able to take lots of notes on this one (couldn't take notes while riding the Segway on Sunday). A few of the things I learned:

• The Big Island has never had a hurricane or tropical storm because of protection from the two large mountains.
• All the flowers and trees on the Big Island are non-native except for one pitiful looking tree (I didn't get the name).
• There are no sand beaches on the Big Island.

I took a lot of photos at Puuhonua so be sure to check Facebook for all of those: Hawaiian Vacation Pics

One thing I've neglected to mention so far is that Mom and I had a bit of a problem with our stateroom. The bathroom started smelling like sewage after a couple of days, and it got worse every day. Our steward, Gerry, and one of the Guest Services workers, David, worked diligently to get it taken care of. By Wednesday it was gone, though it did get worse again. We just decided we'd have to live with it. Thankfully it wasn't as bad the second time through. But the head of Guest Services called Tuesday night and said that to make up for the inconvenience they were treating us to free dinner and a bottle of wine at any of the restaurants. So Wednesday night we went to Moderno Churrascaria, a Brazilian-style steakhouse (one of the specialty restaurants on the ship, which usually has a cover charge).

Moderno was beautiful and the food was excellent. They give you a menu full of meats but you don't choose just one. Once you turn over your place card from red to green, a passador comes to your table with the different meats on huge skewers, and cuts off whatever you want. When you're done with the main course and ready for dessert, you turn the place card back over to red.

My favorite food was the grilled pineapple with cinnamon and something else. I got two servings of that, even though I'm slightly allergic to pineapple. O:-) It was too good to pass up--it smelled amazing and tasted even better!

Unfortunately the boat was high-tailing it to Kauai that evening and was rocking quite a bit. It caused both Mom and me to lose our appetites. So we turned our place card back to red after only a few rounds of meat. Our passador came to the table and lamented "Red? Red!!" Mom was so queasy that she ordered some Ginger Ale, which helped thankfully. We got a couple of desserts to go and headed back to the room. Oh, and I chose my favorite wine--Chateau St. Michelle Riesling. I didn't finish it all that evening, so I nursed it for the next couple of days (Mom doesn't drink so it was all mine).

Thursday (day six) is the day I'd been looking forward to all week. We were docked in Nawiliwili, Kauai and our excursion was a plantation train ride and a luau (also at the plantation)! Mom said she couldn't go to Hawaii without experiencing a luau. The luau was that evening so during the day we took a trip to the UPS store to mail some things that wouldn't fit in our suitcases.

At Kilohana Plantation we got to see a lot of plants. I took a ton of pictures, but didn't get to write down what each one was! So if anyone knows the plants in my FB photos, please comment and fill me in. :-)

The luau was AMAZING. The food was okay; I did not try poi but I did try a couple of new drinks: the Mai Tai and the Blue Hawaii. Both were good, despite the fact that I don't really like rum or coconut. I also tried papaya (it was okay, nothing stellar) and purple sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes were good but had a strange aftertaste. Here's my dinner plate (yes, I had rice and noodles):

The entertainment was...wow. They had storytelling, then regular dancing and Samoan fire dancing. I didn't get many good pictures but my new friend Jennifer (we met Jennifer and her husband Cameron at the luau, as they were sitting next to us) might have. Check Facebook. Here are a couple decent shots of the dancers from before the sun went down:

That's all for this part of the trip. Tune in soon for the final installment of my Hawaiian vacation retelling!