The Sounds

I stood hidden from the hustle of a city today, tucking my slouch safely away into a store front, out from the busyness of the street. I had just buckled and gave in from walking out a crisp walk to welcome the warmth of the afternoon on my back. I was taking a second in this heat to try and feel like the kid giant that used to know these streets, searching for that height, but failed when I noticed the absence of my sounds. There was a time when I walked a few inches taller in this space, and now I am here minus a head, I am small. I am all shoulders and fumbling hands, bouncing off of the flow of the crowd that's surging along with purpose. My head remains a thousand miles south in the embrace of my love, and there it is, all open ears and bright eyes listening for the familiar sounds of the children so that my mouth can hold its smile. I can't hear anything here without it. I was beaten today, and so I got off of the street and am here now: lying in this freezing hotel room, tucked into a heavenly bed, shitty cable on the TV, mini bar ravaged, none of this can replace my sounds. No amount of amenities can replace them. There are no late night knocks on the door, music boxes, giggles, hearing "hi" 10,000 times in a row, her laugh, I love Cole's laugh -- I can't hear my life here. I can't sleep without these sounds.

Tomorrow will be easier, I will get dressed and find a new mind that was packed away in my suitcase with the notebooks and pens, and I will place it atop of my perfectly pressed business casual shirt, my mind will come alive with promise, and I will plant myself again in a position to provide-- and I will do it well. The first night far away keeps getting harder with each trip. They are becoming part of our "routine." The absence has made it apparent that I always want them around me, as much as possible. I have always wanted this kind of sickness. I've never had it before. This is the kind of loneliness that makes a man feel complete. Like he did it right. Every time I figure out a way to earn a dollar it is with the intention that enough of these will keep our life lovely. Isn't this what we are all trying to do? Lead lovely lives. We are trying to work enough so that we can get the chance to stop being away. Work long enough so that we can enjoy our loves leisurely.

And so we all keep working. Keep working.

All the Love in the Universe ~ Me

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Where The Kids Are At

As I had previously mentioned around here, I took my 14yr old niece Anabelle to the Vans Warped Tour this past weekend. Yeah on Sunday, when the heat index was something like 106.

Here she is ... planning her day out with the $2 piece of paper they charge you for with the days schedule printed out. She was pretty organized and methodical about her time.

In case you have never heard of The Warped Tour, its an all day intensive barrage of punk/emo/scremo/so-cal punk/ska/ bands all playing short intense sets on multiple stages, in an outdoor setting, in the middle of summer, and it is the highlight of many a teenager boy and girl.

There is Fist Pumping.


There is Crowd Surfing by boys.


There is Crowd Surfing by Girls.


There are plenty of humorous/ironic Tee Shirts.


There is Skating.


There are Circle Pits.


There were these guys?!


*side note- I asked Anabelle if she liked blogging. She said: yes. When I asked her what kind of blog she would write, she said she wants to start a blog about all the concerts she goes to. So... I asked Anabelle if she would type up a brief about her day and do a guest post here today, and so this is what she had to say about her day at the Vans Warped Tour.

Take it away Anabelle --

PICTURE THIS: Hundreds of vicious fan girl teenagers that are desperate to see their favorite musicians while stuck in 100 degree weather. They also probably smell like body odor from being smashed together with a whole bunch of other people who were all rocking out to the same song. It doesn’t sound lovely, does it? But no matter how hot it was, if it was raining or windy, or even if some freak snowstorm happened, I was still determined to go see the 2010 Vans Warped Tour. It’s just a great place to see tons of rock bands. Almost all of them have autograph sessions and meet and greets, and it’s pretty cool to see bands that you’ve never heard of or pictured yourself seeing. Even if you aren’t a big fan of the music, it’s still tons of fun to see the crowd that Warped Tour attracts.

This year, some bands who were on my “Top Bands to See ASAP” just so happened to be on the tour this year: Sum 41, Pennywise, Reel Big Fish, Mayday Parade, and We the Kings. Luckily, I got to see all of these bands along with two other ones my uncle recommended I saw: Streetlight Manifesto and Face to Face. Every show I saw was extremely good, and at almost every show, I ended up reaching the railing in the front of the stage because of all the people moving to the mosh pit. (YAY!)

Penny Wise



Reel Big Fish


Just so you know, Warped Tour is the day to use your outdoor voice. Most people didn’t understand this concept, especially during Sum 41’s show, where some chick yelled at me for screaming “YEAH!!” when the singer/guitarist asked if we were ready for a good show.

“Um, do you really have to scream at every song?” she says. *scoffs and rolls eyes at me*

“Yes,“ I exclaim, “It’s a rock concert!” *smiles sweetly*

I don’t understand why she freaked out on me and not the half naked sweaty man rubbing up against her that was screaming every lyric to the songs in her ear the whole time.

Sum 41 probably had the best memory of the day. I’ll probably forget about Ms. Let’s-Be-Quiet-at-a-Rock-Concert, but I’ll never forget when the singer/guitarist asked “WHO WANTS TO BE ON STAGE FOR THE REST OF THE SHOW?” Um, can I?
While everyone that was screaming their hearts out to get the band’s attention, (I was too!) some 50 year old man lifts me up off the ground and sits me on his shoulders. I was a little terrified. I had no idea who this man was or where he came from and I never saw him after this creepy event, but since I still wanted to get up on stage, I kept on cheering like a wild maniac. One of my really great friends who I met up with at Warped freaked out and starting yelling “GET HER DOWN!!“ and could have possibly smacked him across the face. Good fun. Sadly, I wasn’t chosen to be on stage, but I had a fun time trying to get up there.

Sum 41





I’m glad I got to go. I’ve been wanting to ever since my mom had told me that she had seen Pennywise, Flogging Molly, Rancid, Bad Religion, and the Mighty Mighty Bostones at Warped Tour almost 10 years ago. It’s such an amazing experience and totally worth standing in the mid-summer heat with more than 50 bands and their annoying, hyper, crazy fans. Consider going next year, you won’t be let down. Please make sure if you go, wear shorts and tank tops, ONLY DRINK WATER, and wear sun block. (Your skin will be fried and burnt if you don’t.)

Recovering after Sum41 planning out the rest of the day.


Thanks Uncle Ryan! This was such an incredible vacation and it was fantastic to see you and Cole along with my two cute cousins. Let’s go again! :D

All the Love in the Universe ~ Us

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Curly Locks & Rambling on About My Ambition & Making Grand Declarations

Besides the fact that I am always shocked to see how long Tessa's hair is when it is wet because her curls hang straight with water, I don't have anything else to say today about the cuteness of my daughter. Between her and LB my day is jam packed with debilitating cuteness.

So what's the deal with this post today? What's going on with you lately Ryan?

You mean besides going to the dentist yesterday after NOT going for EIGHT years, and discovering that I don't have a single cavity :)

Well... I'm actually overwhelmed with a backlog of work, and I'm getting ready for a long stretch of NYC, followed by some following up on people and places along the Gulf of Mexico. I've actually never been busy like this before-- trying to balance a calendar and juggle jobs. I realized I'm not that great at managing myself. So to make things even more hectic, after the charity album "Do Fun Stuff" is released and climbing the charts :) I have decided I needed to really get aggressive about some old pipe dreams of mine. It was all spurred on from watching Peter Pan when my niece was visiting, we got a pizza and stayed up late watching the latest version of the boy who won't grow up. You know the scene where Mrs. Darling is explaining to the children how their father is brave? Remember? It's because he took all of his dreams and sacrificed them for his children, and placed them safely in a drawer, and sometimes at night, they take them out and admire them, and then put them back in again, and close the drawer, and THAT is why he is brave. Because he can close the drawer. While I understand that kind of bravery, just like Mrs. Darling explains, there are all kinds of bravery, and I decided that I would not put my dreams away in a drawer, I wanted to do a little fighting for them first. If they ever end up in a drawer they are going to look like a battle worn flag, scarred and charred, and torn apart from fighting.

So just as I have done in the past in this space, I wanted to just put it out there with some confidence and matter of fact belief in myself that I will absolutely achieve these two old dreams of mine that I have set my sights on. I'm very stubborn so I intend to do it.

ONE- I want to make one of THESE for HBO.

TWO- I want to sell a script for the greatest film sequel ever made. And that is all I can say about that one for now :) So I am going to be doing everything I can think of to secure a pitch meeting, so that I can get to work on this with my writing partner.

I feel like making those two things happen will keep me busy for a good long while as I keep learning to manage the rest of what I do with my camera and my writing. I'm in. I said it out loud in front of people, so now I have to make it happen. Right? Right!

This whole setting my sights on lofty goals thing happened because when I was a mouthy asshole teenager I was really into acting, a thespian. I loved being on stage, and right before I graduated high school I said: "I'm going to be able to go to a movie theater and buy a ticket and watch myself on the big screen before I am 21" and I totally did it. *to elaborate (it was for 15 seconds and I never tried to act again after that, but it was with Peter Fonda, and it was nominated for an Oscar, so I am not sweating it) I achieved this goal, not by way of the conventional, head out to LA with some headshots and some really sweet monologues memorized with fingers crossed. I did it from working really hard on film crews, and making my ambition known to the people around me.

So I decided at a very young age that I would just keep trying to apply that formula to my life. It doesn't always work, I fail all the time, hundreds of emails and calls ignored. There are just so many people in positions of power that can help others, that I think eventually someone will be bored enough to take a listen to what I have to say. Maybe? I am going to get busy trying as they say.

Sometimes I think I am just as addicted to the letdowns and failures as I am at pulling off a goal. All the roadblocks and hearing NO all the time teeters back and forth from fueling my ambition, to crippling depression. I'm a terrible person.

The exercise here was to repeat the steps I have always taken in the past on my way to a goal. I used to just tell my friends an idea and say "Well now I'm going to do this." And since I don't really have any friends anymore, I am releasing it into the universe here.

What happened to all your friends? Why don't they invite you to do awesome shit anymore?

They can't stand seeing me with my shirt off, after the summer is over we will all start hanging out again.

Why don't we see Cole on the blog anymore?

Oh! well she just wanted a break from all the sharing her life with the internet thing for awhile, she has started suggesting posts like she used to again, so I am taking that as I sign that she is starting to come back around. I asked her to pick out a picture for my post today, and this is the one she picked.



Out of all the pictures, this is what she wanted to share. I love that woman. Immensely. She is the ONLY reason that I can live my life the way that I do, she has absolute unwavering belief in me, and it makes me fill up with so much love that I can put up with all of the constant rejection. I am going to go spend my morning with her right now actually.

All the Love in the Universe ~ Me

P.S. It was really hard to push "Publish Post" on this one today. I hate failing.

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Sitting At the Little Table

So Tessa decided she was going to start sitting at the Little Table like a big girl when she eats her breakfast. The only problem is, she wants to stand on the table. All the time. All day long. Every chance she gets. Someone might say, just move the chair you stupid idiot! But... that doesn't really teach her anything does it? Cole and I are on the fence with this kind of stuff. Do you just seal everything up in the house, block off everything she can potentially climb and fall from? Or do you try and reinforce right and wrong? We don't want to fall into the trap of feeling like we need a million gadgets, and gates, and locks so we can walk away for 5 seconds, but we also don't want to drone on and on with a constant barrage of NO! I walked into the living room after washing out a cereal bowl and Tessa was standing on the table trying to reach the blinds. My immediate reaction was 'Wow, how awesome! She climbed the table." Then I was like: "Oh, right, she shouldn't be doing that... NO." But I think it is really amazing that she can climb onto the table.

When my niece was here, I broke out the old slide projector and showed her a bunch of slides from the 70's when her mom and I were kids. Seeing these old images reminded me of how things didn't used to be all about "OH MY GOD WE HAVE TO PROTECT THE CHILDREN FROM EVERYTHING!" It seems like it was more like, keep the bleach on the high shelf, and don't let the babies get near the stairs. I have been thinking about this watchdogging over protective thing a ton, and starting to really gravitate towards the writing and thoughts of THIS lady. I remember hearing the report on CNN a couple years back about this woman who let her kid ride the subway, and I was all like: "Geez assholes, leave this lady alone it isn't a big deal at all." I am linking to her, because for me it has become a real comfort in reading her blog. I'm realizing that the fact that I'm not interested in all the scary fear mongering to get us to buy more shit to protect our babies is a good thing... it doesn't make me weird or a shitty parent. I like her thoughts. And so, if anyone else out there that is reading in this space thinks from time to time, geez all this pressure to never let our kids get a scratch is getting crazy, and are looking for some words from some other people about it. Take a look at her blog.

So seriously... should I just move the chairs from the table? :)

All the Love in the Universe ~ Me

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Potter (Round 2)

*disclaimer - Nobody asked me to do a review. I was not given anything for free. Nobody used magic on me to get me to say nice things. The Dark Lord is not responsible for any of the mean things.

If you are brand new, or catching up on posts ROUND ONE is HERE :)

With that said...

We hit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter just as the sun started to dip below the chimney tops and snow bundled rooftops of Diagon Alley. We chose to really push this whole "go later in the day" theory, and I have to tell you walking to the far end of Islands of Adventure where Harry's World was plopped I got a pretty good feeling about it as the park felt less crowded, and most of the traffic was heading the opposite direction, towards the exit.

That would prove to be irrelevant.

Here is what you are trading when you go later in the day. When you wait, you are pairing yourself up with a completely different kind of hysterical crazy mob. We walked into Hogsmeade Station to a totally different vibe, these people, these were the tired and angry people that just got their asses kicked all day by the sun, and endured the constant badgering and pestering mantras of: "When are we going to see Harry Potter?! I want to go NOWWW! Why can't we just GO!" And they were finally there, and they were not ready for the let down that although you don't have to wait in line to get into Harry's World, you still have to wait in line to get into everything else, and they are LONG. Real long.

I promised myself yesterday as I was soaking this in, I would not turn this into a rant about terrible parent moments, so I will be as brief as possible. In all of my years living in FL and going to theme parks on the regs I am almost certain I have never witnessed so many parent meltdowns as I did yesterday in one place. Let's put it this way. My thought on this is that if your childs love and enthusiasm for Harry Potter is confusing or annoying to you in any way, don't take them here right now. They are more powerful than you. They can withstand the lines, the crowds, they are seeing things that are making them happy at every turn, they feel like they are in this world, their little heads are exploding. It's awesome, and if you don't get why it's awesome than save this trip for later. We saw parents wagging fingers in faces, and arm jerking, and actually screaming and swearing in their kids faces about how "We just waited in a stupid 2-hour line to watch some stupid ass show in a store!" These kinds of displays makes you look like a giant A-hole. The end of the day crowd just doesn't have the same endurance and excitement as the earlier crowd, and it was kind of dumb to be around. Lugging kids around in the scorching heat as your skin burns, and your wallet drains, and energy is sucked from your bones does not leave you with much. So the end of the day crowd is a tinderbox, and there are plenty of sparks at Hogwart's to make fires burn hot.

ATTRACTION TIP: There are a ton of Potter employees standing around every door and window of this attraction, ask them questions, they will tell you anything you need to know about the way of things, and what lines go to what. There should be no reason to hear parents frustrated and red faced standing in a line freaking out saying things like: "I don't even know what we are in line for, this better be good." EXAMPLE: There are two lines into Olivander's Wand shop, one to buy, and one to watch a small show centered around a wand selection. The line just to go in and browse and buy was only about 15 minutes. The line to watch the show, and then go and buy was 1hour and 50minutes.

There were some really crazy bottle necked moments on the street where the crowd was surging and it felt a little intense. Like this place is going to lose its mind any second if this crowd doesn't move soon. I didn't like it. Again this is a result of the end of the day lack of patience, people are done being polite, they are on a mission at this point and making sure they buy their wand, or their Butterbeer, and that is way more important than courtesy. These kinds of things are observed, and I am sure punch lists are being made, and they will improve upon traffic flow, but for now-- It is my biggest complaint. I get the reasoning behind it, they went for authenticity and the truest Potter experience there is, but a small and narrow winding alley does not make for a great experience when there are so many people going to the exact same place. I am sure this will all tame down as the newness wears off, but for now. Moving around in this space is pretty horrible.

Since I am on the sour kick, the shops Honeydukes and Zonkos were a big let down. For any kid captured by the vivid descriptions or the movie realizations of exotic candy carts, and the famed joke shop that the Weasley boys take over after Voldermort's return-- these stores just fell short. Sure they had Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bots complete with ear wax and vomit flavors, but the rest of the candy was just boring ol' candy. Poor packaging, unimaginative displays, nothing exciting once you are in the actual store. There has to be a payoff when you are making people wait to pull their wallets out. I think people are like, "geez I have to buy something I just waited an hour. But they aren't happy about it. Zonkos was a real bust. They really missed the chance to cash in on the merchandising possibilities bringing some of the items to life. The store front is spot on, but none of the Puking Pastilles, or Extendable Ears they have displayed are present. No Dungbombs, or Sugar Quills, it was filled with generic old timey toys and some pretty terrible choices at that. I hope as the creators of the park realize that park goers are lining up with open wallets to bring home some of this world they will get more inventive with these shops. Please do.

Stores are small, crowded, and intense. You actually feel beat up when you leave them. There is one shining star in the midst of all of this store bashing. The Owl Post. I don't know what it is about a simple stamp on a postcard that reads "Hogsmeade Station" but it was a thrill to watch my niece buy up postcards and Potter stamps, and sit under the cover of the Owlery, blocking out the hustle and bustle of the crowds filling out her notes to friends and family, and then go and get them all stamped at the post station, and place them in the mail. I want to mail everything from here from now on. It was my favorite part of the day watching her mail out her postcards.





In the end. We went on Harry Potter's Forbidden Journey again. The ride broke down, so we waited over 2 hours. I have to admit. I kept staring at the emergency exits and dreaming about making a run for it. Maybe it was the non-stop complaining from the family behind us getting to me, or the stomach ache from the previous days Butterbeer that had me feeling sour bellied and trying to hold in a big loud rip that would have really made the line furious, but it was really a hard wait outside the castle. Again once inside Hogwart's worth every lingering second. It just feels great to be in the castle.



A wand was purchased at Olivander's. My niece selected Ginny Weasley's wand for herself which I thought was an awesome choice. She held it up for a test, and it looks like she was lucky and there is some real magic in her wand. Which only happens when the person who purchased it has a good pure heart full of love that unlocks it. She actually picked up this wand and wielded it, and cast a spell on me that made me think all of this standing around in a fantasy Wizard World shoulder to armpit with sweaty angry foul mouthed tourists was totally worth every second of it. Just like Ginny, she is a powerful witch to be able to do that.



It was watching my niece take the whole place in, and the fact that she wanted to see everything that made me the happiest. She pays attention, she looks, she gets it. It is all there for a reason, each little inch of the attraction was thought out, and she wanted to see all of it. She has a funny little way about her, it's like she had a running checklist from all of the pages of these books in her head, and she was going down the list as she saw things, checking them off, smiling that things were indeed all in order and as they should be.



All the Love in the Universe ~ Me

P.S. Moaning Myrtle is in the park, and let's just put it this way. When your pants are down, and she really starts some of that flirty weird high pitched moaning, it gets weird. I mean really weird. A nice little touch, and unexpected surprise in the park.

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Potter (round one)

*disclaimer - Nobody asked me to do a review. I was not given anything for free. Nobody used magic on me to get me to say nice things. The Dark Lord is not responsible for any of the mean things.

With that said...

If any of you giant nerds are losing your mind excited about the idea of traveling to the land of mega theme parks, dropping big bucks in the middle of the summer for your chance to hop on a broomstick alongside one H Potter, I am here to say, it is totally worth it. There is a catch however. You have to be out of your freaking mind bonkers about Potter. Experiencing the park can go both ways in a hurry. Example: I saw within the same few seconds a woman grasping her heart, and gasping for air with excitement when an impromptu side show featuring some super cute dancers from the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic broke out on the street, and then that same woman go from excited to red faced with fury and loud swearing when she couldn't get close enough to see the show. You have to remember, you are surrounded by hot sweaty crazy people. People that buy wands for hundreds of dollars and think maybe, just maybe the wand actually picked them.

The payoff from being a superfan, is that all the hours of immersing yourself into Harry's world via books, and films, and fan sites, and amateur spell casting with your friends, feeds you the endurance to stomach the wait times for this park, for example: There was a 3 hour wait just to get into the entrance of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, followed by 2 hour waits to get into the shops! Yup, you read me right, this place is crawling with so many rabid fans jacked up on Butterbeer, and Pumpkin Juice that they will wait a couple hours just to buy fan gear. The waits were longer for the shops than the rides. We chose rides the first day, and plan on timing out our arrival to see the shops at a better time of day tomorrow. Olivander's was still a couple hour wait by the time we were ready to leave.

Let me backtrack here and give any potential travelers some travel advice:

When my niece and I walked up to the line to get into Wizarding World we were told by a Universal employee in the politest way possible to take a hike. Apparently this man took pity on us, and pulled us aside and said, If you guys want to really enjoy this park, come back at 4. The line will be gone, the ride lines will be shorter, and the shop lines cut in half. He pointed to the line, and then looked up at the sun and said, why would you stand in this heat to walk shoulder to shoulder with all these people around a park busting at capacity, just to wait in more lines? So we took his advice...

Here is a travel tip for the Potter experience. When you get there, pretend the Potter park doesn't exist for awhile. Go experience the rest of Islands of Adventure, have lunch, enjoy your time. I bought us the Express Plus tickets, and let me tell you these things are absolutely worth the extra money. I felt like a sucker at a snake oil cart when I was buying them, but the benefits were actually understated, the girl that sold me the passes said: "it cuts the wait time in half" and well that was a lie, it cut the wait times to practically non existent. Examples: The Hulk Roller Coaster- Wait Time was 75 minutes, we waited less than 5 minutes, we went on twice in a row, and we screamed our faces off and it was awesome. Spider Man - Wait Time was 90 minutes, we waited 10 minutes. My niece and I barely waited in a line all day with these passes. The only attraction they were not allowed to be used at was of course, the new Harry Potter ride.

So back to Potter, we saw the rest of Islands of Adventure, and went back to Potter at around 2:30 and the wait to get in was gone, we just wandered right into Diagon Alley, and within seconds, and just a few feet in front of us my niece was face to face with some boys from Durmstrang Institute looking as mighty as Krum himself. She was so excited. I stepped back as the crowd rushed to circle around the show. I noticed the line to the ButterBeer wagon disappeared and so I grabbed us a couple frozen Butterbeers, and I bought Cole some Pumpkin Juice to bring home. Now let me review The Butterbeer seperately.



You might be wondering what Butterbeer tastes like: Well, imagine that someone took a bag of Brachs Butterscotch hard candy and dumped them in a plastic souvenir cup, and then left it in the sun until they melted, and then put a little cream soda in it, and then some whipped cream, threw in some ice and whipped it into a smoothie. I got 10 cavities from the first sip, and after the excitement wore off that she was standing in front of Hogwarts castle holding a Butterbeer my niece looked down at this drink and was like "it's so sweet I can't drink it." I totally drank mine like a real stupid fan and had a sugar headache for about an hour after. Going back to back on Dueling Dragons didn't help much. So... If you are a fan of strapping a bag of sugar to your face like a horses feed bag, and love rich decadent flavors like buttery fudge, then buy these drinks and have a taste explosion. I saw many happy faces sucking these down, as well as some people dumping theirs in the garbage.

Let me wrap this up.

The Express passes worked for both the Dueling Dragons ride, and the Flight of the Hippogriff. * sidenote, the wait time for Flight of the Hippogriff was listed at 35 minutes. The ride lasted about one minute. If I had not walked straight onto the ride and had to wait even 10 minutes I would have felt like it was a big fat waste of time. It is a great thrill for the little ones, a real quick totally tame roller coaster. You do get to see Haggrad's Hut and a big fat Hippogriff is on display, which delighted my niece, but for the bigger kids that aren't huge fans of the books, and adult fans. It might make you annoyed to wait for this super short ride.

There is so much detail and nuance in this park that you can walk around and ooh and ahh for a week. They really got it right. The park is a gorgeous re-creation, they nailed it. There isn't anything more I can say about it. The rub is, the park is so crowded you feel guilty for going slow and enjoying it. It is hard to stay in one place for long without someone coming along and wanting to be where you are, seeing what you are seeing. It will be great when the crowds slow and you can really take your time and explore.





THE BIG ANNOYANCE:

Universal started this super lame ass thing where you have to have a locker to put your crap in before you can go on many of the rides. We waited longer fighting cramped quarters and confused park goers trying to navigate touch screen computer screens to rent a locker to put their crap in, so they could next go stand in a line, so they could go on a ride-- only to have to repeat the process and fight their way back into the locker rooms when the ride is over to get their crap, so they can go to another ride, and do the same thing all over again. The lockers are free, but just for an hour or so, depending on where you are. The lockers are small, so I saw lots of families carrying enough gear to hike Everest fighting it out to rent multiple lockers. The whole process is a pain and ill conceived. It adds to the misery of the lines and the waiting.

THE BIG PAYOFF:

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, we waited 60 minutes to go on this ride. It was worth the wait. Completely. The line starts outside the castle, and you spend most of it under the cover of a greenhouse. Yes the Mandrake plants are on display and a nice touch. The line moves quickly, and once inside the castle it moves almost too quickly, the detail and the spectacle of being in the castle is so awesome you get bummed when you have to keep walking. Talking pictures, Dumbledore's office. All of it is perfect. Then the ride. WOW! They just did it right. You get to be as close to inside this story and world as you could ever get. the length is worth the wait, the sights and thrill is worth the wait, they absolutely did it right. Keeping in mind this is if you love the stories and the films, because I will say this, we had a group of dudes that drank beers in line behind us that had no idea what H Potter was all about, and they didn't share the same joy at the end of the ride as we did. They were kinda like, "What the hell was all of that? And why were there so many spiders?!"

We are heading back today for another round, and to get ourselves into Olivander's wand shop which is supposed to be fantastic. We are sunburned, and sore, but absolutely ready for more :)

AND for whatever reason whoever was in charge of hiring at Universal really made sure they filled the Tavern and Pub "The Three Broomsticks" full of super cute girls serving up giant trays of MEAT and Potatoes, and Pints. They had a meal there called The Great Feast, that I had my eye on and was wishing for a couple more hungry mouths to be with us so we could justify ordering it.

One last tip- Eat at off hours people, bring snacks to fight off the eating urge at the normal hours, because we walked right into 3 Broomsticks at 3PM, ordered, sat and had an enjoyable leisurely meal and enjoyed all the sites inside.




All the Love in the Universe ~ Me

P.S. It was an awesome surprise to see Baby Leo introduced over at Oh Dee Doh. Parents of babies, If you have not yet discovered this site, get your butts over there and check it out.

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The Devil

As the years move on it is becoming more and more clear to me that my mother is turning into the Kathy Bates character from the movie "The Waterboy" where she plays the southern "mama" that thinks everything that is an influence on her son, besides her very own good word, and the word of the bible, is in fact "the DEVIL!"

**

My sister and I were not close to one another growing up. I could break the reasons down and pass the blame around to others, but the real nasty truth of it was that we were two kids that selfishly decided we didn't need to be allies in anyway, and we worked harder to be hateful to one another than to just love and protect the other. This wasn't a case where we were simply bickering and annoying the other every chance we got, this was a case where my sister left home at 17, and I didn't see her again for about 9 years. The dates are foggy, but let's just put it into perspective, in the last 20 years I have seen my sister maybe 5 times. It would take me pages to explain how and when we began to repair the distance between us, but I am happy to report that as adults, we are figuring out what it means to be brother and sister, and how cool that can be. As a good example of new sibling milestones being reached...

This week. Today actually, my sister is sending her 14 yr old daughter, my niece, on an airplane to Florida to spend a week with me and Cole and the kids.

**

This is what I know about my niece.

My niece has loved Harry Potter from the time she could read, she has read each book with care and love (100 times over) and has absorbed these characters and all of the nuance of the Wizarding World into her whole heart, and she unapologetically loves this creation. She is flying here to FL to stand at the foot of Hogwarts Castle at Universal Studios, and marvel at their realization of this magical place. I am so excited for her to see it, and despite the nasty summer heat, and rubbing elbows with sweaty tourists, I think her elation and excitement of seeing this theme park will overpower my annoyance and hatred for the tourist end of Central, FL.

Where am I going with all of this?

Harry Potter is the DEVIL!

My mother can't stand Harry Potter and his gang of know-it-all Witches and Wizards influencing children to love dark mysterious arts. Not to mention this particular band of sinners regularly snubs authority, and take matters of right and wrong into their own hands. So now, this rare visit, my mothers chance to see her granddaughter is being ruined by "The boy who lived." And all of this has made me feel sorry for my mother, that she has found herself in the same predicament she keeps finding herself in, where she lets the lunacy of strict devotion and deep faith keep her at arms lengths with her own children. Sometimes you have to stop hugging the baby Jesus so tightly, so you can be sure to hug your own kids. My mother and I have been having the same problem for years now, I find the idea that a person can love a faith unconditionally, but then cannot repeat that same process in real life, and love her children in the same exact way-- is troubling (to put it softly). I don't think Jesus meant for christianity to keep families at odds. What has happened is a stand off. The more she loves God, the more I do not. It is that simple.

My mother was one of the moms that you hear about that takes their child turing into a teenager personally. It was really hard on her when we turned. And now it looks like the same will be true with her granddaughter, because here she is at 14 coming for a visit and for the first time it isn't simply exciting enough to just see family, she is a teenager full of opinions and interests and energy and wants to soak up life. It's awesome. But it isn't awesome if you think Harry Potter is the devil.

And as if Harry Potter wasn't devil enough, I went ahead and secured All Access passes to this years Vans Warped Tour so that my niece can watch Pennywise from stage, and maybe meet Sum 41, and make fun of Andrew W.K. for being a phony. My niece loves music about as much as little Ginny Weasley loves Harry :) Her mom, my sister, has taken her to more concerts than I have been to, and that is quite an accomplishment when you consider I was a tour manager for 3 years, and booked bands at a music venue for 4. She loves rock n roll. Just saying that "it's awesome" is understated. This is a kid who grew up in the height of the Miley Cyrus phenomenon, she rejected Hannah Montana, and i-Carly, and all of the lame Disney rock branding. She hates the stuff. She loves Pennywise! That is incredible. It makes me feel so good to know that my sister managed to raise a girl who grew up and decided that Hannah Montana was ridiculous and a shitty role model.

So of course that means that in fact MY sister is more powerful than Disney! How many people can say that? There needs to be a badge made. She is more powerful than the influence of the hordes of girls that are covered in Hannah Montana gear, that tried to make my niece feel bad for not owning or proudly parading any of it around at school. That is powerful. No? My sister gives me great hope that we will be able to weather the storm of lame corporate rock. Starting with that pesky Fresh Beat Band on Noggin, as far as I'm concerned they are like the gateway band to insincere soulless rock music.

I am taking my job as being Uncle serious here, it is my job as Uncle to make sure she has the best time she can possibly have while keeping her safe and protected from anything that could be considered a boring drag... so this is what we have planned for her.

Two days with her boyfriend Harry Potter at Universal, One day of All Access passes at Warped Tour, Cole is giving her a morning at the salon, gobs of shopping, and honoring her request to eat as much Chick-Fil-A as she can stomach while she is in FL. Does this sound like a good visit to you? All of this coupled with a room dark as a cave of her own to sleep late in, and plenty of computer access. I hope she has a blast, and I hope my mom can appreciate this visit and not take it personally that she is excited to be a 14 yr old girl. I just want my mom to learn that we all don't have to love the same things in order to love each other. At least we can all agree on one thing as a family, that despite how we feel about Harry Potter-- we all know the real hard truth here, Hannah Montana is the DEVIL!

All the Love in the Universe~ Me

* I think it is important to note that I don't sweat Christians, so i don't want this to be an opportunity for anyone to try and lovingly guide me to Jesus. I know where God lives, and it isn't in my comment section. All faiths are welcome here. I don't refudiate any of them :)

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A Family

Trish, Peter, & Leo


Taking this last picture for Peter & Trish to close out the Walk to 40 Weeks was a challenge, it seemed like every time we picked a day to get it done the summer rains would last longer, the wind would blow harder, and the clouds grew darker, but we finally made it happen. And there they are, a family, standing along their own fence, home. We decided not to end with a note, since Leo will be able to WATCH his own arrival, and what that meant to his Mom and Dad when he is all grown up and interested in knowing that sort of thing. I don't think he will have to wonder what it meant to his parents that he came into their lives. And that is that! Fin.

If you have not seen the series, here it is one more time. Scroll on through and enjoy The Walk :)

All the Love in the Universe~ Me

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