Busy, Busy, Busy

I have been unbelievably busy (well, busy for me!) the last couple of weeks. And as someone who functions best on a regular schedule, it’s really thrown my system out of whack and I’m only just now recovering. But it’s been a good busy, I must say. I won’t bore you with all the gory details and just hit the highlights for you.

VEGAS, BABY!

Saturday, April 28, my friend Susan and I went to Las Vegas for the day. Yes, you read that correctly – for the day. Neither of us is particularly fond of Vegas but we both really wanted to see the Cirque du Soleil show called KA.

A couple of years ago we had a similar outing to see Cirque’s show ‘O’ at the Bellagio. So we took a 2pm flight out of LAX, arriving a little after 3pm. We went directly to the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino, which is where the show is playing. The show was at 7pm and we had dinner reservations at the Wolfgang Puck Restaurant at 5pm. So we spent the time walking around the casino, stopping to watch the play at the roulette or blackjack tables. We also decided that as we had a few hours to kill after the show before heading back to the airport for our trip home that we would have dessert at a different restaurant. As we walked around, we checked the restaurant dessert menus and selected Emeril Lagasse’s restaurant.

But I’m getting a little ahead of myself. Dinner was scrumptious. I had a crab cakes appetizer followed by shrimp risotto. Delicious! Susan had a Caesar salad and scallops with artichoke ravioli. Also delicious. We took our time with dinner and made our way over to the theater for the show.

Well, just like every other Cirque show that I’ve seen, KA was amazing. Unlike the others, though, this one had a storyline. If you’ve never seen one of their shows, it’s really hard to describe. All I can say is that like all the others I’ve seen it’s amazing and breathtaking and wonderfully entertaining.

After the show we had dessert at Emeril’s restaurant and then headed back to the airport for our flight home at 11:55pm(!). As anyone who knows me will attest, that is way past my bedtime! I managed to remain upright by downing a large (or should I say ‘grande’) cup of Starbucks coffee. Admittedly, I wasn’t confident it would work, but I did manage to stay awake, so I guess it did. I got home around 2am and promptly went to bed.

The following weekend two of my favorite things to do in LA took place – the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books and MouseAdventure!, a quest-based event held twice a year at the Disneyland Resort. Teams comprised of 2, 3 or 4 participants receive a pack which contains a variety of word puzzles, quests, logic puzzles, etc. They usually require that the team visit various areas of the parks to find solve the clues and come up with the answer to the question posed. We are given a deadline by which we must turn in our answers or we won’t receive any points. Success takes quick but careful planning and a thorough knowledge of the park. Also, all team members must remain together throughout the event. The only exception is bathroom breaks.

At the bookfest, there are hundreds of booths set up manned by booksellers of every kind. There are also panels of writers that cover a multitude of topics. I didn’t have a lot of time to explore the booths as I had tickets to a bunch of panels and no time in between to wander. In fact, my time was so tight that I didn’t even get to experience one of my favorite things. They set up several large crossword puzzles on erasable boards throughout the area and you can just walk up start helping fill it in. There’s a volunteer there with the solution and he or she will let you know if you’re right or not. And once it’s completed, they erase it so the next crowd can start all over again. Good times.

Anyway, over the years, I’ve leaned towards attending the political panels, and this year was no exception. My first panel was at 11am and was entitled “The Politics of Faith.” The writers had all written books about religion and politics in this country and around the world. That was followed by “The Age of Spin: Controlling the Message.” This was one of the most lively as one of the panelists was Frank Luntz, a notorious right-wing pollster. Now for a little self promotion. The cable channel CSPAN-2 was in attendance at the festival and broadcast some of the panes live and recorded others for broadcast in the future. At the end of the panel I was able to get to the microphone quickly enough to ask a question. So unless they edit it out, I will be on the air when this is broadcast! No date has been set yet, but look for information here when it is announced.

Next up at 1pm was “The Future of News” in which the panelists discussed the ways in which the way news organizations have evolved in this age of Internet and blogs. That was followed by “Profiles in Terror” at 2pm. This was probably the most informative as each of the authors had spent time in the Middle East learning about terrorist organizations and what drives some people towards them. As one of them basically said (sorry, I can’t remember which) it makes no sense for us to not try to gain insight into their psyche. After all, during the Cold War there were whole agencies whose sole purpose was to learn about the way the Communists viewed the world in order to best determine how to defeat them.

Last but not least was “State of the Union” at 4pm. The panel had two ultra-lefty members, Amy Goodman and Greg Palast, who really got the crowd going. All in all, it was a really interesting and stimulating day.

MOUSEADVENTURE!

After bidding farewell to the bookfest, I went home, had a quick dinner, packed an overnight bag and drove down to my friend Mark’s house in Cypress. Mark lives about 20 minutes away from Disneyland, so I decided to stay over there as we had to be at the park by 9am the next morning. Also, I hadn’t seen him in several weeks, so we had a lot of catching up to do. We met up with our other teammates, Michael and Gina at 9am at the sign-in location for the event. It was then that we learned that we’d been assigned to the advanced and not the basic (meaning less difficult) course. We immediately decided that as there was no chance in hell that we could finish near the top, we’d instead focus on having fun. And that’s just what we did.

Many of the teams have matching shirts and some even sport headgear. You have to be careful because the powers that be at the park will not let adults enter the parks in 'costume.' We called our team "Maleficent's Minions" after the evil queen in "Sleeping Beauty." Here on the right you can see our lovely T-shirts with the evil queen's visage upon them. Those in the photograph are Henry (replaced this time around by Gina), Michael, me and Mark. Don't we look lovely?!

They turned us loose about 10:3oam and we had until 3pm to turn in our answer sheet. I think we answered less than half of the questions. Nonetheless, a fun time was had by all. At this time, our score hasn’t been posted on the Web site, so we don’t know officially how we did, but we don’t think we’ll be at the very bottom. At least we hope not!

So I had two busy, busy but fun weekends in a row. Frankly, I’m still recovering! But I’d do it all again in a heartbeat – and probably will.