meanderings of a restless wanderer

Today Disneyland turns 52. Am I a geek for wishing a happy birthday to a theme park? Perhaps.

Happy 52nd Birthday Disneyland !!!

Leanne and I had the great privilege of going on a double date tonight with our friends Bill and Jennifer Gibb (we have been trying to get together for about 5 months) …where did we go you might ask….well the Happiest Place On Earth of course. We started off our evening with corn dogs…not Weight Watcher friendly…but frickin amazing! Then Bill and I challenged the girls to Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters…we kicked their butts! Then things got interesting.

We decided to go on Space Mountain. Now, mind you I haven’t been on Space Mountain in about 6 years. We get on the ride…were screaming…I’m choking on Jennifer’s hair…and then it happens…we stop.

The music keeps playing…but we ain’t movin. Suddenly our darkened room was filled with light and for the first time in my life I got to see the inside of Space Mountain. This may not be a big deal to some…but I have wanted to break down on that ride since I was a kid…just so I could see what it looked like. And let me tell ya there is a whole lotta metal going on in there.

After about 5 minutes the released our breaks and pushed us free to follow the track to it’s end. When we reached “Spaceport” they turned off the lights and let us go again. It was a blast! We laughed so hard that Bill has all but lost his voice…we even bought the picture. Anywho, it was good times once again at the Magic Kingdom…and great times with Bill and Jennifer…minus of course the terrifying movements of Alice in Wonderland…that ride is scary!

Until next time…

The Disneyfication has begun…

This week begins the demolition of Fort Wilderness. It may not seem like that big of a deal to some, but I have many a great memories of the Fort. Soon all of Tom Sawyer Island will be a distat memory, and since most people probably won’t be making the trip to Hannibal Missouri (Mark Twain’s boyhood home) I fear that future generations will never get to experience what it is like to live and play amongst the stories of Mr. Twain. It is a sad sad day indeed.

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I get a lot of people asking me what my favorite movie is, or what my favorite restaurant is…well, I figured if people want to know…I’ll tell them. Below you will find my compiled list of my favorite things. If I am missing anything please let me know, and feel free to tell me your favorite things.

Favorite Old Movies (Before I was born)
Action/Adventure: African Queen
Horror: The Birds
Drama: The Godfather
Comedy: How to Steal a Million
Musical: Guys and Dolls
Disney: Peter Pan
Romanic: Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Holiday: White Christmas

Favorite New Movies
Action/Adventure: Any Indiana Jones Movie
Horror: Scream
Drama: Braveheart
Comedy: The Great Outdoors
Musical: Chicago
Disney: (tie) Hunchback of Notre Dame/Finding Nemo
Romanic: Love Actually
Holiday: Elf

Favorite Music
Rock: U2
Pop: Jackson Family
Jazz: John Coltrane
Standards: Diana Krall
Hip Hop: Missy Elliott
Country: Nickel Creek
Singer/Songwriter: Iron and Wine

Favorite TV Show No Longer Airing
Drama: Alias
Comedy: Friends

Current Favorite TV Show
Drama: Lost
Comedy: Scrubs

Favorite Book
Drama: The Road
Thriller: Still Life With Crows
Christian: What’s So Amazing About Grace?
Non-Fiction: Devil in the White City
Fantasy: Chronicles of Narnia
Children’s: Thief Lord
Classic: To Kill A Mockingbird
Travel: 1,000 Places To See Before You Die

Favorite Big Cities
East Coast: Boston, MA
West Coast: Portland, OR
Midwest: Kansas City, MO
South: New Orleans, LA

Favorite Little Cities
East Coast: Portland, ME
West Coast: Flagstaff, AZ
Midwest: Hannibal, MO
South: Eureka Springs, AR

Favorite Disneyland Attractions
Thrill: Big Thunder Mountain
Dark: Pirates of the Caribbean
Show/Parade: Fantasmic
Just For Fun: Astro Blasters

Favorite Restaurants
Chain: Maggiano’s
Fast Food: Chick-fil-a
Unique: Juan’s Flying Burrito

Favorite Animals
Domestic: Labrador
Exotic: Baby Elephant

Favorite Beverages
Juice: Apple
Soda: Pepsi
Coffee: Praline
Tea: Sleepy Time

Favorite Cartoon
Old: (tie) Duck Tails/Scooby Doo
New: The Simpsons

Favorite Store
That I Can Afford: Target
That I Cannot Afford: Restoration Hardware

Favorite Magazine
Entertainment: Entertainment Weekly
Chick: Real Simple
Travel: Conde Naste
Men’s: Men’s Health
Cooking: Cooking Light

Well, there you have it…If I left anything off let me know…and for the record my favorite color is green.

Although I am still fighting off this blasted head cold I was able to partake in a fairly eventful weekend.

Friday I got to go to Disneyland with some friends…one of which *cough* Charlie….got the double take from none other than Hercules. So besides that oddly creepy moment and the fact that it felt like Antarctica we had a good time.

Saturday is when life got interesting. A group of about 11 people from Revolution (and one Romanian photographer) set out to do some face painting on Eucalyptus St. in Bellflower CA. If you don’t know Eucalyptus is hard core. Lots of drugs, gang activity, shootings, and other such pleasantries of life, and in the midst of all of that are many families trying to do the best they can in life.

As the day went on we found out that Doris is an amazing artist, Natalie rocked making stars, and Jr. painted the best footballs ever. I myself also excelled in this unique art form…My dinosaurs and butterflies were nothing short of Van Gough.

Everyone that showed up did an awesome job at painting kids faces and just showing these kids and their families some love, the bummer was that a lot of people were not home…so we decided to go to the park. Right as we were leaving a bunch of cop cars came flying down the street. As we reconvened at the park we realized that Victor and his family were not there…

Finally they arrived and the told us what had happened. The whole time we were on Eucalyptus there were also some gang members roaming around. The avoided us for the most part, but occasionally one of the groups would cross their path and greetings were given. However as soon as we began to leave they started to deal, that’s when the 1st cop came. They pulled their gun on the gang, and the gang members just started laughing at the cop, then two more cops showed up and pulled guns…all the while Victor and his family were trying to get the heck out of there.

The experience was a reminder of why we are doing what we are doing. I cant wait to see what happens next time.

So that was my weekend…fun, eventful, tiring, and challenging…

Oh yeah one more thing…I got second place at an Oscar party! Once again my sick fascination with the entertainment industry has proven useful.