Haunt 2013...

Last Thursday the 10^th was Jay and my annual trip to Knott’s Halloween Haunt.  I’ve been going to this attraction since I was a kid and boy has it grown into a very cool night of fright and fun!  Once I got into the theatre world a group of us used to go every year, but that has dwindled down the just Jay and me.  Jay is a fully grown male in his 50’s who screams like a 12 year old girl and one of the main reasons I still love to go.  Watching that boy shriek and scream and run away from monsters makes my whole night.  The monsters of course zero in him once they find out how easily scared he is.  It’s fantastical. 

Sometimes we do the Pre-Haunt dinner but the last few years we’ve skipped it because we find that the food is just not that great for the price and by the time you finish eating your, “Hour early entry” is wasted up.  So we usually meet up somewhere nearby and then head to Haunt.  Now that it’s just the two of us we can mill around the park pretty quickly and get to do everything we want to do!  Jay and I have a similar way about how we trek around the park and it works perfectly.

This year we realized TGIFriday’s is actually right there in the park so we chose to eat there.  I’m thinking that will be our dining place from now on.  It was just too perfect.  We met there at 5:30 and after I paid F-ING $20 to park I sat and waited for my favorite date of the year.  He usually treats me to this evening o’ fun so I can’t bitch about the parking fee too much.  But JESUS. 

Jay arrives and we giggle and catch up over dinner exchanging our Halloween themed presie’s we always get for each other.  This year Jay informed me that he paid extra for us to go into the “Trapped” maze.  This was a new feature where you have to sign a waiver to enter and the monsters interact with you and can touch/screw with you.  It sounds like it was modeled after the LA BlackBox thing they did last year.  Exciting!

Off we went to start our night.  I snapped this shot as we walked in:

Unfortunately we were stopped because Jay had mis understood the website and didn’t buy 2 tickets with “Trapped” but bought 2 “Trapped” tickets which are good for up to 6 people!  Whoops!  Luckily after a few frustrating directions Knott’s was super cool and sold him two tickets and refunded one of the “Trapped”.  All good.

First maze we hit was Slaughterhouse.  This was the typical that we’ve seen before.  Nothing special, nothing stuck out.  I was worried this was a preview of the night to come.   But oh no!  We passed Mirror Mirror which had a huge line; we made a note to come back.   There were a lot of Dios de los Muertos décor which I loved and knew Terri would love as well.  Snapped a few:

A monster harassed Jay for a bit to my pure amusement then we snapped this selfie:

We passed the games that we always love to tackle and I noticed that they had baby Skelanimals as prizes which I found out later are called Furry Bones or something.  But they are cute as hell and I had to have one so Jay and I played toss the ping pong ball in the floating cup game.  I WON!  I of course squealed way more loudly and happy than was probably necessary but IWON!  I chose the pink one and the guy that handed it to me wasn’t too shabby either.  He was flirting a bit with Jay or I – I couldn’t tell who.  He he he.

Next up was a maze called Black Magic.  This was awesome!  Creepy carnival like atmosphere and great decorations!  This replaced where the clown maze usually resides.  A few of the mazes were taking pictures of you that you could buy later, and Jay bought us this one because, well – its rad!  They zombified you!  My face was apparently “scary” enough that they left it off of me.  You can also see my adorable prize.

Next up it was time for our “Trapped” experience.  We waited in a lobby, and then had to sign waivers.  We were also told if we got too scared, etc we could say “Boysenberry” and our group would be escorted out.  I appreciate the safe word but it kind of sucks that your whole group has to go.

 The only thing I was mostly nervous about was that they were going to do something to us that would mess with my screwy dizzy issues I’m having (Remember – tumor thing in head – weird after hemorrhage – always not doing well with equilibrium).  We were sent off in our groups.  Jay and I were our only group so it was just the two of us.  We waited in line while a mad scientist like fellow poked at our faces.  All I kept thinking was “How many faces have you touched!”  We were sent off.  We then were placed in front of an elevator looking thing and were to punch the button until we figured out the code.  This only took Jay a few minutes but I started to worry a bit because I already can’t ride in elevators at the moment.  It opened, we went it, and it closed behind us and started shaking as if it was real.  It then slammed and jumped and the lights went out.  I started worrying I may have to say Boysenberry if it went on too much longer because I was starting to feel woozy, but it was over quickly.  Thank GAWD.  The doors opened and we walked into a small room where there was a dude dressed as a janitor and monster-fied.  A desk stood behind him and I saw a live tarantula in a cage.  Oh shit.  He then started his bit.  I want to give props to these actors because they’re basically monologues and need good improve skills.  Jay and I being actors ourselves messed right back with them so I think they probably enjoyed that.  The guy picked up a jar and told us to find the key.  It was filled with cornmeal and live maggots.  UGH!  Jay begrudgingly reached in and after a few minutes found the key.  The dude they threw it back in!  I had to now get it.  Ugh.  So gross!  But quite glad the tarantula wasn’t a part of our show.  We found the key, unlocked the door and had to crawl through a tube filled with live spiders.  Luckily the little bastards were on the outside.  I’m not sure I would have been able to crawl through otherwise.  Jay being claustrophobic was a little worried at first but saw the end and did fine.  We were now in what looked like an underground thing that looked like something under a building.  A breaker room of sorts.  There was water and a dude standing in it who immediately started screaming at us to flip breakers etc.  We did as he asked but then he wanted us to touch a wire to see if it was live.  Um no.  God love Jay he did it.  This guy went on for about 5 minutes then we ran across a bridge (I swore something was going to jump out) into another room.  The door closed and we were now in a padded cell with a very large obese man in his underwear.  The walls were smeared with what looked like shit and there was a smell of it too.  Oh lord.  The guy started touching us as asking if we were real.  Again my slight germ fear was like “DUDE!” we played along then he started screaming and the lights flickered.  The wall shot towards us looking like it was going to smash us.  Very cool effect.  Then the man was now angry man.  He was yelling as us to find the birdie.  I noticed a shit stain shaped birdish and pushed it.  This sent us into another room.  Mind you these rooms are all tiny!  I can’t imagine a group of 6 people!  Lord.  So now we’re in a storage closet looking room with a dead guy on the floor.  He had a large belly with a towel and blood over it.  My 1^st thought was something was going to come shooting out of his belly but he laid there “dead” forever!  It was a great fear effect because you waited for so long for him to do something you got more and more freaked out.  He finally started shaking, woke up, and removed the towel to show a huge hole in his tummy.  He said the only way out was to reach in there and get the slide card.  Nice.  Jay did so and retrieved a blood covered card.  We slid it and a door opened.  We tried to give the card back but he said keep it.  Sweet!  A souvenir!  I kept it and wiped it down later.  I now have an insane asylum maintenance card.  Now we’re in a room with cage doors.  A tool attached to a chain is on the floor.  Jay figures we use it to open the doors.  We do and a grudge like chick crawls out.  We open another one and there’s another chick.  The first gal appears again and points to the crawl space we are to go through.  Jay is quite nervous at this point because it’s a tiny tiny crawl space, but he does great.  We crawl through and into the lobby we land.  We get chased out by a couple of monsters and we’re done!  I have to say I totally enjoyed it.  It was fun to interact with the monsters and do something different. 

Next up we hit the Elivira show that was awesome of course because she’s rad.  We slipped out a bit early and hit up a maze called Forevermore.  Very cool.   Lots of Edgar Allan Poe stuff and quotes from The Raven.   After that was Pinocchio Unstrung.  Hilarious.  It was like the revenge of Pinocchio.   A huge giant animated wood thing was at the end.  Rad.  Then I think we did the Gunslingers Grave.  Rad.  We stopped in the midst of this to check out The Hanging.  As usual it was silly and fun.  They ended up hanging Miley Cyrus.  I wasn’t surprised. 

We tried going on the Log Ride and the Mine Ride but sadly found out those don’t have monsters on them anymore.  Bummer!

We then made it to the other side and hit Trick or Treat which had a fantastic house set up.  You “rang the doorbell” and in you went.  So very cool!!!!  It also had this cool giant black tree with pumpkins hanging on it like ornaments.  Totally an idea for decoration! After that was Endgame where we did more pictures.  I had to buy these because I thought they were hilarious!  I have been in these before…they ask you to pose then blast you with a loud air thing to scare the crap out of you and photograph it.  Well these guys were smart – the 1^st pic they didn’t do it, but they got you on the 2^nd.  You can see the one pic is us knowing its coming and the 2^nd is getting it. 

Endgame was a bit loud for me but still cool.  We hit Dominian of the Dammed and Delirium at this point too.  Very cool as well.

We played another water race game which I won! Ha!  And I gave Jay the adorable blue Frankenstein monster I got.  Loved the toys this year!  The only maze we didn’t make was Mirror Mirror.  We went back and the line was 2 hour wait.  We would have been there till 3am.  I found out later from a few people that it was nothing and most people were pissed to wait that long for not that great of a maze, so we certainly dodged that bullet!

My only regret was we missed Blood Drums.  I always like to catch that show but we pretty much hit everything else!   It was a night of lots and lots of laughs, squeals and screams and so much damn fun I can’t even begin to describe it enough!

 As per usual I had an amazing time and I owe it all to Jay.  He seriously is the best date ever!!!!  Thank you Jay for another amazing time at Haunt!!!!  It seriously gets better every year!

Rugged Maniac...

Rugged Maniac was the last race of the year I have signed up for and I kicked it’s ass on Saturday.  This race actually turned out to be much harder than I had anticipated which of course made me love it more!  Sooooo doing this one again if it comes back around to SoCal!!

There originally were four of us signed up.  I was super excited for this race because 2 of my best friends were obstacle race virgins and joining me on this adventure.  D of course was our fourth.  Sadly Lib got quite sick and ended up not able to go, so it was just Robin, D and I.

We got off to a bit of a rough start since D wasn’t prepared to bring her car so we needed to stop and do a little service on the way…

Once we arrived, we realized it was literally just around the corner from where the Warrior Dash takes place.  It was at some motor cross venue out in Lake Elsinore which I’m guessing is why there were quite a few hills and trenches.

Smooth sailing getting checked in, taking our pre-race pics and checking in our bags.  Robin was a little nervous but I knew she was going to kill it.

We line up at the start and as we’re waiting for go time (We were the first wave) we saw a plane drop a bunch of skydivers above us!  A skydiving venue is right next door and it was awesome watching all of these colored parachutes flying down above us.  We’re in the middle of the Santa Ana Winds so I was surprised they were still going but maybe it wasn’t too bad.  It was windy, but not as bad as it was back in Orange.  The MC was great – pumping us up and off we went.  D promptly went off on her own and I was super thrilled to be power walking next to one of my besties. 

So I’m going to do my best to remember because the Course Map on the website was totally wrong.  So here we go in my best remembrance of an order:

First up we hit two large walls that you climb over.  I’m going to say about 12 feet.  There was 1 two by four you stepped on, then had to reach the top and pull yourself over.  I was just barely tall enough and my fingers are sore today because of the crazy grip I had to use to keep myself from falling.  Nailed it.   Robin wasn’t able to get over and was quite flustered.  I told her it’s ok to skip it.  She did.  When we hit the 2^nd wall I did the exact same thing and Robin was determined to get over one of the walls.  She did but unfortunately slammed her ass in the process, an injury that affected her a bit the rest of the race.  We ran up and down a few muddy hills then I believe we climbed another few walls, these ones having more two by fours to climb up and over.  After this I saw the look of being totally overwhelmed crossing over Robin’s face.  I chuckled and told her she’s doing amazingly which she was. 

I think next up was this trench covered by wood you had to crawl through.  It was friggin long!  I was able to sort of squat/run but it went on forever it seemed.  You also couldn’t see the end because it turned at one point.  Not cool if you get claustrophobic!  The guy in front of me panicked a bit.  He kept saying “Oh God, Oh God” and breathing hard, so when I caught up behind him I tried to be encouraging and that seemed to help.  He thanked me as we crawled out the other side. 

Now I’m going to just start going through obstacles as I remember them.  So here we go:

There were tires you ran through, but also tires swinging from above.  So you were running and getting smacked in the face by tires.  We blasted through those.  There were a couple of really large muddy hills that you could use a rope to climb up.  There were also a lot of those wood walls made out of two by fours.  I swear, those were everywhere!  We got stuck behind people who were afraid of heights a few times which was somewhat annoying.  I try to be sympathetic but come on now.

 I wasn’t power walking anymore by mile 2 because Robin was pretty tore up already.  She kept apologizing to me about holding me back.  I finally convinced her I’m sooooooooooooo never about time.  My main goal is always to do better at the obstacles than I did before.  That’s it.  I don’t care if it takes me a whole day to finish a race, I know in my heart I’m strong and love doing the obstacles.  I also explained to her that obstacle races are totally different (She’s a runner) from a regular race.  Conquering obstacles and running through mud and uneven dirt and up and down hills kicks your ass.  She seemed to perk up a bit after that!

At one point we came up to a set of about 8 trenches.  You were to jump over them and be careful not to jump too hard or you would slide into the next one.  No sweat right!  I started jumping but when I got to one in the middle it was huge!!!  This guy and I totally halted at the edge when we realized it was much wider than the others.  For the first time in my obstacle race history I had a moment’s hesitation.  I wasn’t sure if I could do this.  The guy and I seemed to be having the same thought.  We both paced back and forth for a minute, looked at each other, shrugged and backed up.  Off we went and my heart jumped in my throat as I leaped over the trench.  I landed weird and rolled my foot and almost fell back into the trench but didn’t.  I did it!  I jumped over the last few and turned to see Robin skipping the last half.  She laughed and said she jumped the first couple but there was no way she was going to jump the big one.   I don’t blame her.  I could feel my ankle starting to swell.

We then jumped into some sort of pool that had tubes you swam or climbed over.  Good times and a nice cool down.

Around now I believe we hit the first mud crawl.  You notice I say first….there were about 5 or 6!  All under barbed wire!  I have never done an obstacle race with so many mud crawls!  RAD!  I felt awesome when I crawled past everyone in every crawl!  Ha bitches!  Then I would spin around and cheer/guide Robin on.  “Butt down!  You’re doing great!  Three more wires!”  She was awesome.  

We didn't get any "muddy" pictures, the two below was the very 1st one and what you can't see is it goes down into a bunch of mud!

There was a slide – this was pretty much a giant black tarp stuck to a hill.  Robin and I sailed down it holding hands and landed in a people pile in the water.  I love Robin's pure look of fear here.  Awesome.

After the slide was a balance beam over water.   They were about 5 across and you basically just shimmied across.  I’m actually surprised at how well I do on balance beams.  I will trip over my own feet but I guess when I’m concentrating I do well.  I trotted across like it was nothing and passed everyone on the other beams.  Robin got about half way but fell in.  She was frustrated but I again told her she was doing ridiculously well.  We then heard a bunch of other people fall in so I think she felt better.

There was another mud crawl under barbed wire that had a tube at the end you had to climb out of.  Normally I wouldn’t think much of this but the rocks from the mud and people shoes made for a very painful climb out and I have a beautiful road rash now down both of my legs.

There were a couple of cargo climbs.  I love these!  I always feel like a monkey!

Then there were these stump things you had to jump/walk across.  This was difficult.  They were like tree trunks or fence posts just wide enough for one foot.  Talk about balance!  Lord.  I got through the 1^st part smoothly but again there was another large gap between two of them.  I took a deep breath and did it!  I didn’t fall!!!  Most people did!  I felt so great!  Robin was having a harder time but when she fell she would turn around and go back to do it again instead of giving up.  I noticed someone helping a friend and asked if she wanted me to help her.  She said yes, so she was able to get across with me next to her holding her hand.  Yay team work!!!

After this we hit a bunch more mud crawls.  It was seriously like they just kept coming at us.  Then we rounded the bin and spotted the finish line.  You of course jump over fire twice before you cross.  Robin got nervous at first but I promised her it wasn’t a big deal, besides – check out the hot fireman on standby!  Rawr!  We leaped over the fire and crossed the finish line together.  We grabbed our water (no medal) and walked over to meet D.  I have to admit, I’m surprised at how many races this year didn’t have medals.  I know it pisses D off to no end.  I don’t mind all that much but they are fun to have plus we pay enough.  Ah well.

We headed over to grab our bags laughing and wincing as the mud began to dry and pull at our body hairs.  We took post-race pictures and what we joked would be our profile shots below.

 

 

They had low pressure drip water shower like things to rinse off in.  We took turns and the wind had started to kick up again at this point and damn was it cold!!!  Shivering we ran to the change tent and had our final obstacle of the day.  I changed in a matter of maybe 20 seconds.  I’m pretty stoked I have this down to an art, but D had some issues.  Then Robin, oh poor Robin, I remember my 1^st race.  That girl didn’t know up from down.  We laughed hysterically as we helped her change and get her head on straight.  Then of course, straight to the beer.

They didn’t have any vendors which is always kind of a bummer but there were a few food stands and beer trailers.  We weren’t planning on staying too long anyway since I had to work that afternoon but I always do wish there were more vendors.

So – all in all – this race was great.  I would totally do this one again and be more prepared for a challenge.  Robin is hooked and wants to do more with me and Lib is so pissed she missed this one she said she’s signing up for the big daddy 7SAR in January with me.

My 2013 year of races has come to a close and I’ve come to learn that I’ve gotten significantly stronger and the bug hasn’t left me.  I plan on next year signing up for less “Fun Runs” and more obstacle races.  Gladiator, Spartan and maybe even Tough Mudder are in my future.  I feel it’s time to step it up a notch.  I won’t be able to do these much longer, so I want to while I am able!  Again – I don’t race to win, I race to improve myself and I’m doing just that. 

It’s amazing to me what a difference I feel from my 1^st race in 2011.  This includes the year off in the middle due to head pop.  I was sore for days after the race.  So exhausted.  So tore up.  I seem to be getting better at this.  Oh yes I was sore from this race, but really only one bad day.  My road rash has quieted down and I think all of the bruises have surfaced which aren’t as many as usual it seems.  I crave a challenge.  I crave the feeling of tackling an obstacle and doing well!  I sometimes thing of trying to actually run more, but when my knee starts to swell up it reminds me why I can’t.  But I have found that I can trot a bit intermittently if I’m careful.  The famous quote “Don’t let what you can’t do stop you from doing what you can do” by John Wooden is always running through my head. 

My life is so different now.  Smoked my whole life almost.  Drank a friggin ton.  Ate like total shit.  I would exercise to lose weight and get pissed off when no progress was happening or I would exercise to get the aggressions out and improperly do so many things thus resulting in gnarly injuries.  Now look at me!  Nonsmoker.  Social drinker (barely).  Eat healthy.  Sort of cook.  And now I exercise to be strong and healthy and I love it.  I take on these races to improve my strength and mobility and agility.

Fuck you hemorrhage.  No excuses here.  I have grabbed life by the balls and am loving every second of it!

Yes. A complaint blog...

Ok we all know I'm all about grateful thankful happy life is good now Jami.
Well every once in awhile it seems the Universe has a fucked up sense of humor and dishes it out to yours truly.
I don't complain often, but I shall here with a slash of humor.
So:
FUCK THIS WEEK.

I rarely get to take vacation due to funds.  I have saved and budgeted the past few months to pay for my upcoming weekend to Palm Springs to celebrate a friends wedding.  I decided to make a weekend out of it.

Monday - It's now Fall, which means it's dry, which means we have Santa Ana Winds, which means fires start everywhere, which means Jami's sinuses take a shit.
Santa Ana Winds rolled in over the weekend.  They were at the very dirty race I did on Saturday.  They caught Silverado on fire.  Monday I could barely breath and had a constant stream of tears running out of my right eye.

Tuesday - I woke up with a fever blister on my lip.  When my sinuses go on the rampage sometimes I get these horrible little fuckers that make me feel like a diseased whore.  I'm not vain very often but these things suck.  They are so ugly and I feel like everyone in the world is staring at it when they talk to me.

Oh PS - I'm on an antibiotic right now for some fungus (that's right fungus) in my nose.  This means I shouldn't drink alcohol.  Now I'm on two antibiotics because of the monster on my lip/sinus rage so I really can't drink alcohol.  I REALLY NEED ALCOHOL.

Tuesday evening - I bowl like shit.

Wednesday - (And might I mention TODAY IS ONLY WEDNESDAY) I go to leave for work and my truck doesn't turn over.  AAA comes to tow my truck.  The man is adorable.  I'm a diseased whore with coffee breath.  The dealership calls me later and tells me it's going to cost $1200 to fix my truck.  The fuel pump, fuel line, fuel filter, fuel fucking everything is broken.  Oh and PS for another $700 you need new spark plugs but you don't have to get those right now.  Swell.  I hang up.  I cry.  I sit back down at my desk and "Damn Right I Got the Blues" by Buddy Guy comes on my iPod.  Really universe?  Bite me.

Also Wednesday - It says it might rain.  It's SoCal October, it's not going to rain.  It fucking pours.  I'm in open toe shoes a thin top and my umbrella is my truck which is being raped at the dealership right now.

I've been texting back and forth with my friend T who is accompanying me to Palm Springs (maybe in her car now) and both of us have had a helluva week.  We keep saying "This weekend will be great!"  Oh - btw - Aunt Flo is joining us.  Both.  Really!?

I'm also really upset for my brother who is under his own black cloud and to top off his already craptastic month (He's had a longer run of BS) his truck took a shit on his way to the annual fishing trip he and my dad take with a bunch of dudes.  This kept them stranded for two days and didn't cost as much as mine but enough that he doesn't have.

SO. 
This week.
Fuck you.

My vent is over.
Peace Love and Joy.

Halloween is coming...

So as I think I have mentioned previously, I have started a craft night of sorts.  I'm still in total awe that I've gotten into crafts as of late.  I actually purchased a glue gun today.  Lord help us.

Anywhoo, I thought I'd share our last craft we did.  Renee hosted this craft night in her clubhouse at her apartment complex.  It was a great location but we had to be out right at 10pm.  They even turned the lights out on us!  Ha!  We were wrapping up anyway.

Our craft was painting Mason Jars to become Luminaries!  I was pretty much Halloween minded as was most of the girls, but a couple did a few that were non-Halloween.

The start:

Another one of the gals brought items other than Mason Jars.  She brought candle holders, little jars and a few wine glasses.  This gave me an idea for possible Xmas gifts!!!

Anywhoo, you paint the Mason Jars with arcrylic paints.  I brought along some scrapbooking like stuff as well, some stickers and jar labels that my mom  had that were Halloweeny.  After you paint the jars and add your stickers/labels if you feel so inclined, you let them dry then you spray them with a spray clear glaze that a lot of folks call "Schlack".  One gal soaked hers with the Schlack and I think that's actually the way to go.  I never like to use a lot of spray paint so I just sort of barely coated mine.  Well, my jars didn't hold up as well.  They came out pretty good but the paint scratches off pretty easily and one of the labels actually peeled right off.  But I thought they came out pretty good for my 1st shot!

Here was our finished items as we were doing them:

And here were the one I actually did:

Most I just painted, but I used bat stickers for the red jar and some witch and cat stickers.  I tried to use glitter on the moon (yellow) one but it didn't work out.  The purple and pink one label fell off and the spider one I actually painted the big one but then glued on little plastic ones as well.  That one was pretty cool.


And today I pulled out some of my Halloween Decorations I have stored over at my moms house.  I can't really decorate here too much since I live in a sort of shoebox now rather than a house, but I put up a bunch of my outside stuff and then just a few corners in my living room.  I may pick up some Halloween lights this month and outline my bedroom window if I have time.

 You can see I'm a fan of Skelanimals!  :)  The Halloween Wreath is a cute wreath that my friend Julie made me with a bunch of Halloween ribbons.

Happy October!!!