In October, S had her annual Pumpkin Carving Party, which is always quite a bit of fun and a good way to start getting in the mood for Halloween. She usually hosts it the Sunday before Halloween, so we can all take our pumpkins home to have them for the big night!
My mom and I went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra on Nov 2. I don’t know if anybody is familiar with them, but it has to be the strangest combination of music I think I can come up with: hard rock, headbanger Christmas and classical music. But it works. The guys all wear tuxedos and they are playing electric guitars and have long hair and thrash around on stage playing reworked versions of Christmas carols and then classical pieces. It’s so bizarre, but so much fun at the same time.
My mom went to Florida to visit family for a couple of weeks after that, so I stayed at her place to watch the dogs while she was gone. That first Thursday night, I met David Wroblewski (who wrote The Story of Edgar Sawtelle which I own, but have not read yet), at Nicola's Books. That was fun. I love getting to meet authors. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera that night, so didn’t get a picture with him. The last Tuesday night that I was staying there, I again went to Ann Arbor, this time to meet James Dashner and get his book, The Maze Runner, signed. Again, no camera so no picture. **Note to self: ALWAYS CARRY YOUR CAMERA!
My friend K came into town on Friday 13 as she had a conference the next day in Lansing (she lives in Lapeer, which is just about an hour away), so she was going to stay at our place that night since I wasn’t home at the time. She, B, S, and I went to see the new animated version of A Christmas Carol. I read the book every year around the holidays, so I can say that I was pleasantly surprised by how close they stayed with the original book. They changed just a few aspects of the story to make it move a little quicker, and to show off the fancy-pants 3D technology that they used to make the movie, but these new bits really didn’t detract too much from the story.
C called and surprised me with tickets for us to go see the dress rehearsal of the new Cirque du Soleil show in Chicago, Banana Shpeel. I had already been planning on going down to Chicago to see the parade that lights the Magnificent Mile for the holidays anyway, so I just went down a few days earlier to see the show. I honestly have to admit that I was really shocked by how bad the show is. I honestly didn’t know it was possible for Cirque to make a bad show. I’ve seen almost all of their shows, either on TV or live, and I’ve been amazed by all of them. Well, I can say that I was amazed by this show, but NOT in a good way! It was their take on vaudeville, and they have never done a show like this before, and you can tell that it just didn’t come together for them. People actually left during intermission, and C and I both were glad that we didn’t have to pay for the tickets; all he had to do was be one of the first 100 people at the theater the week before with a banana and he got 2 tickets to the dress rehearsal. I’m glad that I got to see it, so I can say that I saw it, but I am still surprised by how bad some of it is. Oh well, they can’t win them all the time!
After C got out of work (he works at that Disney Store), our friend K came into town and we ran back to his place so he could change and then we went to one of the bars in Boystown to catch a drag show, Snow White and the Drag Queen Who Stole X-Mas, which was hysterical!
C hadn’t seen A Christmas Carol yet, so we walked back down to Navy Pier and watched that at the IMAX theater after the parade.
Sunday morning, C, K and I went out to have breakfast at our favorite restaurant, Tweet, which is conveniently located just around the corner from C’s apartment. After breakfast, it was time for me and K to start packing to head home. It was a non-stop whirlwind of a trip to Chicago this time, but worth every minute of it!
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