Never to early to think about Halloween

As I am sure many of you have read, I am getting married in November. Specifically, BJ and I are tying the knot on November the 1st, 2008. This means, of course, that the rehearsal dinner, is totally on Halloween night. And clearly, we will be in costume. I found an awesome looking cosplay costume on ebay today; one of those, send us your measurements and we'll make one for you kind of deals. I'm going to modify it from the cosplay and be a goth vampire, it'll be sweet. Now we just have to work one out for BJ. Here's a picture of the design, and yes, that's PVC.After this fun adventure, BJ and I went to David's bridal to purchase shoes. The store was huge and brightly lit, and comfortable, and the people there were very nice. No one was pushy, we had to actually ask for assistance, which sometimes can be a good thing. They did not have the shoes I wanted in my size, so we had to order them. I also had to pay for them up front, which I thought was odd. In other shoes stores, if my size was unavailable, I would have it ordered, show up when it came to the store and if it fit correctly, then purchase the shoes. Also, they are non-refundable, so if they don't fit, I have to appeal to the manager to possibly have them exchanged. I also find it strange that, although I did pay for the shoes, and they were ordered today, they will not arrive in the store, until July 9th. Really, more than a month to ship a pair of shoes? I'm glad I am not getting my dress from there. I would be terrified of the "right size" not fitting correctly and then being stuck with a dress with no refund, and very little likelihood of exchange. I think that the wedding industry is the only one that can get away with not accepting returns on clothing. I can completely sympathize, if something is worn or if the tags are cut off, but point blank pay for this and you shall receive it, only it, and it is non-refundable, seems a bit extreme.

Check my profile, DO IT

I like this cool feature from blogger. If you look at my complete profile, you'll see a random question I have answered. I can go to edit my profile any time I want to to get a new question. So if you're reading my blog, check out the random question. You never know when it could change.

Hello Iron Man, goodbye Socks

BJ and I watched IRON MAN yesterday in theatres, and it was just fantastic. We even stayed through the end of the credits and saw the little cut scene. I was a wee bit mystified, mostly because I know little to nothing about the Avengers, so we'll see what comes from that. I loved the movie, it was so good. After it ended, I just wanted to watch it again. The animation for the suits and the robots was so well done. There was a lot of great humor thrown in too; it was a joy to watch. The only issue I had with the movie was on a personal level. Stark's partner, Obadiah was played by an actor whom I know very well, he's very recognizable. The issue I had was, I know his face is not shaped that way. There must have been some prosthetic makeup added under his chin and it just looked really odd. Now if it had been a less recognizable actor, I probably would not have had an issue with it. It's funny that our perceptions of people who work in films can alter the way we look at them in new roles. I saw in the credits that there were even Puppeteers...how exciting is that. I don't know what they did in the movie, maybe they were the robots in the lab. In any event, if you have yet to see Iron Man, go watch it, if you have seen it, go watch it again. It was so good it knocked my socks off.

System Maintenance of DOOOOOOM

Happy Tuesday to one and all. For us players of World of Warcraft, Tuesday is quite the infamous day. Before Tuesday never meant all that much to me. It is neither the beginning of the week, nor is it the middle on the way toward the weekend. However, since I started playing WOW, it has taken on new meaning. World of Warcraft is a very involved and detailed game, and to keep it running, it has to have scheduled downtime for system maintenance. And that scheduled time comes once a week; every single Tuesday. Normally this would not have been an issues. The start in the wee hours of Tuesday morning and work through until the afternoon, usually finishing around lunchtime, and it would be all set to go once I got home. Here lately though, BJ and I have been getting the same days off scheduled, and for whatever reason, we get Tuesday off. So we get to hang out for most of the day, watching tv or otherwise entertaining ourselves, instead of playing WOW. : [ Oh well, BJ and I are going to go watch Ironman today, so that will be fun. Happy Tuesday All.

I like books, and cookies, and reeses, and BJ

I'm currently reading a book called, The Talisman, which a coworker let me borrow. It was coauthored by Steven King and Peter Straub, and it's very good thus far. I haven't really enjoyed a King novel since BJ and I listened to, Salem's Lot, on an audio book. Also a very good book, but involving vampires, which I have yet to see in this new book. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel. In other book news, I really enjoyed the trilogy of his dark materials, which was all started off with, The Golden Compass. Yes it has talking animals, but that does not make it a rip off of Narnia. Seriously people, CS Lewis did not come up with the idea of talking animals out of the blue. There are any number of folktales, that predate CS Lewis by, a lot, which are filled with talking animals. Take the compilations of Hans Christian Anderson and the Brothers Grimm; they just wrote down the different stories they happened upon in their travels, and there are a fat lot of talking animals. Tolkien even made trees talk, and that says....well, something. I have a headache. : [ And my keyboard is a little messed up, most of the number keys at the top will no longer function correctly. Unfortunately I am deprived of all those nifty little symbols that might normally be available by pressing the shift key. I am working on compiling music for the reception for the wedding, and while meandering my way through my ITunes library, I just find so many good songs that are so totally inappropriate. So I made a list of totally inappropriate songs while I was at it. Where else can one find the Gorillaz with Queen? I really like the Feel Good Inc song. BJ said it probably wasn't a good idea to play it at the reception {I agreed.} You, the reader, should probably understand that our wedding is primarily made up of family and close friends. And BJ and I have a very small number of close friends, so there will be a slightly more "mature" audience there. Not that that is a limiting factor, but it definitely spins more of a family reunion / Backyard BBQ feel for the afternoon. I like it; our wedding is just one big family party. I'm thinking of purchasing a set of Bocci balls. It's a fun game to play in grassy outdoor areas. I like it a lot more than croquet, personally. Yep, getting married in the afternoon with a tea and dessert reception which = SUGAR RUSH...This is the part where you might normally see explanation points...: [ Ah well, I am off to bed to get rid of my headache, and to watch a little family guy. Nothing cures your ills like a little humor.

Houses of cards, they fall down...a lot

I just got home from work, WOOHOO. It wasn't really a long day, as the hours were just odd. I had a later check in, and logically enough a later check out. We were sitting around the break room in between shows and I was thinking about pizza. For some really odd reason, the break room smelled like a slice of dominos pizza, you know the spice blend they put on it with the cheese and tasty bits. It was odd because no one had dominos; no one even had pizza. Therefore, I've been craving pizzas for about 4 hours or so. I called BJ when I got to my car, and my wonderful man threw a pizza in the oven for me. Excuse me while I blog with one hand. Mmmmmm....pizza. Anywhos, earlier that day I had gotten my friend/coworker Heather to play a card game with me called, Fluxx. It's a fun game where the rules start out easily enough, but as you lay down different rule cards, it can get a lot more complicated. It's really fun. Sometimes you can win on a single hand. Sometimes it will take a little longer. Another good one we played for a bit is Phase 10. It's such a cool game it has it's own Wikipedia page. The games both have a similar idea. You have to lay down a certain number of cards in order to meet the goal and win the game. I like Fluxx though because it's easier to understand the basic way to win. Once someone wins, a new game starts. Phase 10, when someone wins, they just win that turn and then go on. The other players who still have cards in their hands have to rack up points for the unused cards. Points in this game are bad...very bad, and the game can go on for a long time. And if you're ever really bored, you can try to make card houses out of them. I was never very good at that, the stress...it's too much. : ] But if you're ever bored in a break room with fellow employees, whip out a pack of fluxx cards and see if anyone wants to play. I know I always do. .

Ahhhhhh, so many choices, not enough music

I am trying to set up the music for BJ's and my reception, and I'm at a bit of a loss. Any suggestions would be great. I've got the ceremony music all set, with BJ's help in decision making, and Ryan's editing skills. But the reception, I need some help people. Send me your suggestions, pretty please, with sugar on top?

I'm not a WOW junkie...honest

So, I like to play World of Warcraft. My fiance' likes to play WOW as well, and so does my friend Mary up in the Northern world. We like to get online together, and our awesome guild leader pays for our guild, basically a group of people who have decided to help each other through the world of WOW, so that we can have a VENT server. Vent, aka Ventrilo, is an online chat server so that I can chat up my friend, and some of the other guild folks while we play online. It's got a fantastic clarity; better even than a cell phone. And I like being social. My main is a lvl 70 Night Elf Druid. She's cool, she's maxed out, and she's blue. She's a healer, and she can shape-shift into different critters; including a TREE. My best buddy Mary, is also a Night Elf, but she is a hunter, and my love of my life, is a human palladin. He's got sexy shoulders.

This is a group shot of us being silly outside a place called honor hold. I admit sometimes WOW appointments take precedence over hanging out with coworkers, but we spend enough time at work anyway, why go hang out and still feel like I'm at work? Maybe I am a bit of a WOW junkie, but I have a set time to log and go to bed, and chores do come first. Unless it's doing the dishes. Yeah, the dishes can definitely wait.

Oh the cuteness

So I was doing my usual work thing like I do most days. I was closing tonight, shutting down all the venues and such. One of the great things about the company I work for is the fantastic animal displays; they even have certain animals that just roam the park at their leisure. So I saw the albino female peahen when I was closing up, all white and very pretty. And she had a little baby chick following her around, and it was just so cuuuuute. Apparently she hatched four of them, but now she just has the one left. It made me wonder what kind of competition she was dealing with in a theme park. All the dangerous carnivores are in their enclosures, and then I figured it must be the natural predators. We've got some pretty big lizards that roam the back areas, and a few stray cats that can wander into the property, and snakes....icky.
So does everyone remember the photo of the shark and the helicopter that came out a while back? I was telling some people about how scary a pic it is even though it's fake. Ryan and Jade then assured me it was genuine, but I did some internet sleuthing. It is indeed a fake, and I can sleep a little easier.





One thing to know about me, if you already don't know, I am absolutely, unreasonably petrified of sharks. I will get scared in a swimming pool if I am by myself, thinking there is a shark about to eat me. I blame my sister who once told me, at the tender age of 10 or so, that sharks come out of the pool drain in the hotels and eat any guests who try to swim later than they should. Yeah you know who you are, don't ask me why I believed her, the all knowing sister at the wise age of 13, staring down the face of teenhood. Maybe it's the fact that pools are creepy when you are by yourself, and you can't wear your glasses while swimming, and really, who doesn't think the pool drain is sketchy? So, me with my unreasonable fear of sharks, you probably think I avoid them right? WRONG. I love to watch shark week. Those 3d underwater movies in IMAX scare the crap outta me whenever a shark shows up. I know a lot of information about an object that makes me deathly afraid. I guess it's the same logic people apply to scary movies. You just can't stop watching them because some part of you wants to be afraid. You want to get the poo scared out of you, all the while knowing the person on the screen feels the same way. In real life one might wonder why we turn to fictional horrors as a source of entertainment, when there are plenty of non-fiction ones available. I say, we like to be scared by unreasonable things, because then you can say, that will never ever ever happen, once it's over at least. Me? I like scary movies, but my favorite way of being terrified? I go buy a ticket to an aquarium, and stand in front of the shark tank.

Look Ma! I'm Blogging!

OOO, Hello, My name is Brittany, call me Britt, and I today have just created a blog. Amazing I know. 25 years old, and this is my first stab at keeping a blog. Anyhews, I work in the entertainment industry. No, not that kind of "entertainment." I work backstage at theatrical shows, helping people change costumes, handing off props and microphones, etc. On some days, I get to work for a children's show where I get to manipulate all the puppets, and help the dragon get dressed, those are the very best days. I love my computer, but not as much as I love my fiance' BJ. We're getting married in November, and I am just as excited as a mom buying Christmas presents the day after Thanksgiving. Well, maybe not like that, not psychotic excited; more like a little kid about to be handed an ice cream cone. Yeah, like that! One vital piece on information to know about me, I am random. Expect me to switch or jump topics completely without any kind of advanced warning. You may not be able to see the connections, but trust me, they're there. I could explain it to you, but that would take out a lot of the fun; not to mention it would be a long and convoluted production involving streams of consciousness and flying monkeys. And you really don't want me to get my flying monkeys. So, this about wraps up my very first blog, ever, and I just want you to know I heartily enjoyed this one way conversation. Just like I am enjoying my colbyjack cheese and crackers for dinner, that's good enough for dinner, right? mmmm, cheese.