Another vacation. I know, I'm getting crazy here. This time it was to Orlando and the magical world of...Universal Studios. Had you going there for a moment, didn't I? While Disney is the place to be a kid, Universal for me was the place for adults to be a kid but to pretend they're more adult-y. Boom. I should be in Universal's marketing department.
Hogsmeade
In any case, Universal was super fun, and not just because I got to experience the magical world of Harry Potter (boom x2...these are almost too much fun!), but the non-Harry Potter things were pretty cool too. Despicable Me, Jurassic Park, the Mummy, the Hulk...overall, a great set of rides to go on. But Harry Potter was obviously the biggest thing. Hogsmeade looks as amazing in person as it does in pictures. I know the snow is fake, but the atmosphere there is brilliant. Food at the Three Broomsticks was OK--nothing special--but again, it was the atmosphere. If I wanted great food, I probably wouldn't have eaten inside the park.
The dragon above Gringotts blowing fire
Other really enjoyable Harry Potter-themed activities were the journey through Hogwarts, which was really well done, and two trips on the Hogwarts Express (once in each direction). On the Diagon Alley side of Harry Potter World, I was most impressed about how they took minor details from the books and broadened them into something "real." This was most prevalent in the choice of stores. Not necessarily a minor detail, but even Florean Fortescue's ice cream shop made an appearance. How cool is that?
You may not believe it, but there's more to Universal than just Harry Potter. Obviously I was naturally drawn to the minions of Despicable Me. Not only are they funny, but they're super cute and I give the creators a lot of credit for not just making mindless robots but giving each individual minion a unique personality. (Side note: We watched Despicable Me again one night in Orlando because, why not?) It's amazing what moving seats can do. It completely felt like a full-fledged roller coaster, even though we moved at most a couple of inches in any direction. Gotta love it.
Yes. Of course.
The other fun rides were Jurassic Park, the Mummy, and the Hulk. All three were big surprises for me. The park employee told us that the Jurassic Park lagoon ride had an 85 foot drop at the end. Yet, somehow that drop REALLY surprised me. Definitely wasn't prepared. With the Mummy, I had set my expectations pretty low, but the storytelling and the twists and turns on the indoor roller coaster far exceeded my expectations. And with the Hulk, it was a standard roller coaster except for the beginning. You expect to slowly creep up and then begin your free-fall. But not the Hulk. The quick acceleration starting halfway up was unexpected. So three rides that were above and beyond what I would've figured.
Obviously there were some middling activities--Gringotts, Shrek--and some downright bad ones--Twister--but overall it was an enjoyable experience at Universal. Even if only for a short time over a few days, it was really awesome to be able to join the world of Harry Potter. Now if only my acceptance letter would arrive in the mail--or by owl--already. It's just 15 years late....
Not related at all to the post, but this duet between Jennifer Nettles and one of her contestants on the failed show Duets might be one of the best duets of all time. Really, any duet Jennifer Nettles does is amazing (also see her You and I with Lady Gaga), but this just captivates me. Every. Single. Time.
I returned from my vacation a week ago, but I only just caught up on my DVR. Apparently I record a lot, and with things to do most nights last week, I struggled to keep up with my overactive DVR. But alas, problem ended, and now I have no un-seen shows on my DVR.
As the new season for shows kicks into gear, five shows have caught my eye--two in new seasons, and three brand new shows--and I will look forward to them every week. Let's hope they don't disappoint:
New Girl
The Amazing Race
New Show: Red Band Society
New Show: A to Z
New Show: How to Get Away With Murder
So that's all I've got from these last few days. Looks to be another crazy week--or two or three, a I look at my calendar--so we'll see what gets turned into updates. :)
I heard this song on the radio recently (apparently it's 5 months old, according to YouTube), but I really like it. I don't know how I've missed it for so long!
I'm sure it's hard to believe, but the long delay in posting (ok, not that long, but longer than my promise to post once a week minimum) is because I was on vacation in lovely, sunny, humid, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. St. Thomas is a beautiful island and it was really nice to get away from the hubbub of life in the DC area, relax, and see family. Yes, it's such a difficult trip to be forced to go to the Caribbean to see family. I don't know how I survive.
Storm clouds ahead of a setting sun on St. Thomas
In any case, this was my second trip to the US Virgin Islands. When I last went about 15 months ago, I took a day trip to St. John, which is predominantly a very green and very mountainous national park. This time, the excursion away from St. Thomas was to the British Virgin Islands. I know they say each island has its own personality, but that seems like a ridiculous thing to say. After all, there are only so many personalities to be had, and with these islands all so close to one another, they have to share that, at least. I, however, admit that I was wrong. Although I have yet to visit St. Croix, the rest of the US Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands are all very distinct. Which is a good thing.
Some of the rocks on the outskirts of the Baths
The day trip to the British Virgin Islands started off awfully early from St. Thomas, where we boarded our boat. We cruised to St. John to pick up a few more passengers, and then went on our way to Virgin Gorda to check in with British immigration and customs. Yay new stamp in passport! After a short walk around the Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbour (with a "u" to designate its Britishness, because otherwise the people there have American accents and use the US dollar...), we returned to our catamaran and sailed down the coast of Virgin Gorda to the world-famous baths. Spectacular. Breathtaking. Amazing. Those are the words that come to mind to describe the rock formations and the pools. I unfortunately don't have any photos since it was a 70-yard swim from the boat to the beach, and then a 60-yard swim back, and I didn't want my camera getting wet.
Snorkeling
We then went to Scrub Island where we had lunch, got to play in a pool, and go down a water slide. But that was the boring part. Our next adventure was a short hop to Great Camanoe Island to go snorkeling. It was my first time snorkeling, but once I got the hang of how to breathe and not panic, it was super fun. The coral was massive and stunning. We also saw a couple of moon jellyfish (prompting our guide to say: "I shall call him Squishy and he shall be mine and he shall be my Squishy." Finding Nemo if you didn't catch the reference). The guide caught one of the jellies--they're harmless, and this one was old and lacking tentacles--and I got to touch it. Squishy and slimy are the two best descriptors I can come up with, but how often does one intentionally touch a jellyfish without getting stung?
There were also brilliant fish, some massive, around the area. Near the surface swam a group of thin fish with very pointy noises that looked like they could skewer me if they wanted to, but thankfully they didn't. There was also a line of squid that reminded me the underwater worlds in the Mario games where you try to avoid them as you sail through. The squid just swam back and forth in perfect rhythm. I was astounded by just how well the different schools of fish interacted. They swam through, above, below, near, etc. each other, but each school had its own mission and it seemed as if nothing would take them off that mission.
We ended the day at the popular Jost Van Dyke, home of the Soggy Dollar Bar. Another great location, but not much more to tell than that. We returned to St. John and then headed back to St. Thomas, where the day was done. It was an amazing adventure in a short vacation, but I'm glad I got the chance to see a few more islands and their all very different personalities.
A spectacular view from Jost Van Dyke, just because:
And a song that I can't seem to get out of my head caps off this post. I have a lot of other things running through my mind, so there might (no promises!) be a series of rapid-fire posts coming up!
There are two theories of trust out there. One is considered "100 to 0" and says that you trust someone until that person gives you a reason to stop. The other is "0 to 100" and says that people have to earn your trust. I'm in the latter camp. I'm a skeptical person. But that skepticism is often misinterpreted as pessimism, which I'm not. I'm an optimist and want to believe in the best in everything. So yes, I'm an optimistic skeptic...or a skeptical optimist.
That's why I love Jimmy Fallon's newest segment, in which he gets real newscasters to give good news, or news that we wish we would hear. There's a lot of bad news out there and you could be forgiven for thinking that the world is a scary place. From Islamic militants in the Middle East to missing children in Maryland, it's easy to get depressed and retreat to the dark corner of the room. And that's what makes the below videos so amazing. It's hard to pick my favorite news story, but there's no way you don't get into a good mood watching it.
So I may not be the most trusting person out there--I'm still skeptical of your intentions--but I'm optimistic that there's more good than bad in this world and that people in general can win me over. As Lemony Snicket says:
At times the world may seem an unfriendly and sinister place, but believe that there is much more good in it than bad. All you have to do is look hard enough.
Two weeks ago I was helping my brother-in-law saw some branches off a tree and apparently thought my left thumb was a branch. I took a saw to the thumb but it wasn't that deep, nothing that a little water, Neosporin, and a Band-Aid couldn't take care of. Oops.
Two weeks ago I bought a new set of glasses because I figure that after being an "adult" for the last four years it would be good if I finally had a full set of glasses...that all looked the same. Fine, they're not necessarily nice things--it was a set of 16 glasses for $15 from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. But they were mine, and they made me feel grown-up. This morning, I broke one of the glasses. It took me two weeks to make my beautiful, wonderful, very nice complete set incomplete.
So if you're reading this, you may wonder why I brought up the story of me sawing my thumb. Well, brilliant me at 6am this morning cleaned up the broken glass and through it in the garbage. Then, even more brilliant me decided to push down the garbage to make sure I was using all the space. And the glass got its revenge by impaling my right pointer finger. I can't have nice things because I break nice things and then find ways to hurt myself with it.
Successfully-built IKEA bed.
I'm in the process of building myself IKEA furniture--at this point a bed an entertainment unit--so I'm scared about what I might manage to do with those given my experience with other things I've bought and done for myself recently. Hopefully the thumb and pointer incidents aren't warnings for the rest of my fingers...my left middle finger is on notice!
There were two videos on my list that had me cracking up recently, but I'll save the other one for the next post. In this one, the baby panda cub refuses to let go of his trainer's leg after being put back. It's such a cute juvenile thing, and a quick search of YouTube suggests pandas are very clingy animals!
.JPG)
