Live Forever or Die Trying

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Thursday I head back to Dallas for a week. I have a party scheduled for Friday (my secondary reason for coming back; I miss my babies!) that is planned to have 50 people!

I have a ticket average of $40, so times 50 people is $2000; $600 is mine to keep (30% of sales). But these are “rich” folks, so it might be more, but $600 bucks for only a few hours of work is pretty damn good!

After this party, I have the option of “going solo” which means I buy the stock myself for 10%-ish above cost and I get to keep all the profit. Which means that if I did this upcoming having already purchased my stock, I would take home closer to $1600 =)

I can also sell the stock however I want. Can you say e-bay store? =) Or I can just pop my trunk in a wal-mart parking lot! Okay, maybe not that, but I don’t have to have a party scheduled to make sales.

Next month, I already have 3 parties planned and I am sure that more will call in. Not to mention all the contacts I will meet at upcoming parties that will want to have their own party =)

Well I think that is about it, and I have been bugging Dean to make his own post about his work up here. Maybe he will have more free time while I am gone and he can tell you for himself how much he is impressing these California big dogs!

“What do I do up here all day?” was the question I was posed by our Dr. Phil; my step-father-in-law. Well besides not having cats - and cat poop - to deal with, it is pretty much the same… NOT. See my Borat tribute there? =)

Dean works from 10am to 10pm Monday through Thursday, and 10-7 on Friday, so I am left with a lot of free time. Since it is two hours earlier here than in Texas, I get up no later than 9am. I usually start the day by checking the interwebs and perusing the TV for an hour or so (my equivalent to coffee) and then decide what I will do as my “thing” for the day.

I always have lunch with Dean, so at 12, I get dressed and head out of the door at 12:30 to get there by 1. Even though his work is only 5 miles away, there are A LOT of red lights. I think just about every block has one, and plus you are not only sharing the road with cars, but MANY bikes and pedestrians!

Most days we walk the strip by his work and find a place there. In about a 2 mile radius, there must be over 100 places to grub, so we get something new everyday. And we noticed the other day that there are NO big chain restaurants; most of them are mom and pop joints or local small chains.

After lunch, I head back and usually do some “homemaker” chore or another, and then dress for my choice activity of the day. Thus far there have been three: beach, pool, or walking. Well walking is every day (we walk more than drive), but some days I just go for a stroll lasting hours through the neighborhoods to see the houses and plants.

[At this time during my writing we had black-out for 20 min, so I left and took a shower in the glow of our gas fireplace.]

I must say that I never knew there were so many varieties of trees and plants! I just wish I could call it “shopping” and pull my handy shrink ray out and zap them to take them home. I also love looking at the houses, and I must say, I am compiling a pretty long list of ideas for our house!

When I am not out walking, one of my other activities is going to the beach or pool to tan and read. It really depends on the weather which I do because there is this thing here called the “June Gloom”, which is some type of fog that rolls in from the sea, but it higher than usual fog. It hangs out about 10 stories up blocking some of the sun and all of the view. It makes for a cold day (in the 60s).

On those days I go to the pool. If you get into an area where there is not any wind (and there is A LOT here) then even the smallest amount of sun will warm you up nicely. Our pool is in the center of a dozen or so 3 story buildings

I am usually out for 4-5 hours before I come back to the apartment where I shower and chill on the couch. This is the part of the day where the bed calls to me with its soft, downy embrace. About half the time I give in, but doing so means I do not get to go to bed with Dean.

[Another black-out just happened; as far as I know this is not a usual occurrence. I will turn the fireplace on so I can see more than just the glow of the currently battery-powered laptop!]

[It is now the next day; the power was out for an hour last night, so I read my book by firelight. I will now complete the post.]

It is getting warmer here, so I have been to the beach more and I must say I love the sounds of the large waves crashing on the beach! I have many pictures, but I cannot seem to find the cord that connects my camera to my computer. I think I might have left it at home, but I will get it next time I am down (the 26th).

I actually do a fair amount of work while I am up here too. I talk with my company and contact leads (people who call corporate and request a party) for parties. Just today I have received 5 leads and booked 2 parties. The other 3 did not answer their phones. As soon as I set up a party, I contact Terminal Reality and let them know the dates I need to fly. We get 4 round trip flights a month, but since Dean does not need to come down, I can use all 4 of them.

Speaking of flying, we get to keep all of the frequent flier miles we rack up, and I will be using some of them to get Molly, Holli, and Jeff up here in August. I am so excited because Holli has never seen the ocean - not even crappy Galveston - and Molly wants to go to all the designer resale stores!

Back to the typical day..

In the evening, say 7:30-ish I usually get some dinner. Lately it has been groceries we have here; one can actually get tired of eating out! Then I watch some TV and wait for Dean to get home about 10:30. At 11, we watch Daily Show and Colbert and then go to bed.

The schedule stays the same everyday except weekends. It makes it very easy because I do not have to think about what to do next!

And speaking of that, it is 12:20, so time for me to get dressed and go get Dean for lunch!

XOXO Kaston

Even though I knew it would be warmer on the mountain of six flags, I was not expecting the heat that it was! It was like being in Texas in August =)

We thought since it was Father’s Day, the park would be less busy than a normal Sunday, but it did not seem that way. We waited on average 45 minuets per ride, and got to ride only a few rides. We skipped all the other stuff associated with a day at an amusement park -shows, little rides, shopping, and the funnel cake- and focused on the large coasters.

I was expecting to be wowed since I have seen many coaster shows on TV where Magic Mountain was highlighted, but there was not anything special about the park’s rides, except the X2, which I will get to.

My second favorite ride was tweaked replica of the Titian we have at Six Flags in Arlington; giant climb followed by a long, steep drop and some sideways black-out loops. The called it the Goliath:

“Towering 255 feet above earth, this massive steel superstructure hits speeds of 85 mph, making it one of the fastest and tallest roller coasters around. Enjoy a 3-minute, high-speed adventure over 4,500 feet of steel track. ”

The best one there was also the fastest, and the shortest; the Superman. This was the only one we rode twice because the line was very short and I am a junkie for weightlessness!

“Your escape starts in Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, where a 15-passenger vehicle carries you through a special-effects tunnel, then accelerates to 100 mph in seven seconds before shooting straight up a 41-story tower.”

I have never really liked wooden coasters because they are always very jarring to ride. Think driving over a planked bridge at 70mph and you get the picture. However, I was pleasantly surprised by Magic Mountain’s Colossus:

“Spanning over 10 acres, Colossus is 1,608 feet from end to end. There are 14 hills, two gut-wrenching drops of more than 100 feet each, and a climactic triple jump.”

Our first ride was the Ninja. It is a hanging car coaster, so as you go around bends, the car is flung out by centrifugal force. It has a very calming effect on me, like a baby in a bassinet =)

I almost forgot about Riddler’s Revenge:

“The Riddler’s Revenge, of course. It’s a blazing-fast coaster with a twist: you’ll stand, not sit, as you race at 65 mph head-over-heels six times over nearly one mile of twisting, looping, inverted steel track—for nearly three minutes. ”

Okay I did not forget about the aforementioned X2. Watch the video first and then I will comment.

Go ahead, watch it before you read anymore. Seriously, you must watch.

Okay you can read now. That looks bad-ass, I will be the first to admit:

“X, the world’s first 4th dimension thrill ride, has once again pushed all limits and taken extreme to the next level. This $10 million investment features completely redesigned, sleeker trains and introduces all-new, innovative state-of-the-art visual, audio and sensory effects. X moves from the 4th dimension to the 5th becoming X2!

With its 360° rotating seats and head-first, face down drops, X has been one of the most popular thrill rides on the planet. With the redesign, X2 takes you on a journey to a unique and unchartered dimension of extreme only Six Flags Magic Mountain can deliver.

Unlike traditional coasters where trains only parallel the track, X2 sends riders screaming around its 3,600-foot maze of steel track aboard massive wing-shaped trains where the seats extend off of the track to the sides of the vehicle, allowing them to independently rotate you head over heels, forward and backward creating a one-of-a-kind “don’t know what to expect next” sensation. X2 launches the extreme thrills of X into a new dimension with the addition of a light experience that changes with every ride. ”

Here is what they don’t tell you: X2 is a recreation of the worst car accident one could possibly experience. The ride is not smooth at all, and the whole time you are being spun around and dropped from hills you head is smashing into all of the “padded” restraints around you. As soon as the first drop is over, one is jettisoned into hell. I was screaming, but not from joy. I am sure I received multiple concussions from the ride. Worst ride ever.

And that is so sad, because when I watched the video I posted here, it looked so awesome, that I forgot about getting hurt on it and wanted to ride again. I think the technology is just too new; they still have many bumps to iron out.

After we rode that, we had been at the park for 8 hours, and decided that it would be best to go home. If I do have a concussion, riding more coasters would have been a bad idea.

Besides the 100 plus degree heat, the long lines, walking up a MOUNTAIN, and getting hurt, we really did have fun. Overall though, I am happy with our Six Flags, but I am glad I got to experience another park!

Wow, what a packed Saturday we had! Since the time zone is -2 hours from Texas, we have been getting up at “normal people” hours of 8-ish, so we get a lot more into a day. We got dressed and walked down to this little coffee & breakfast bar called The Cow’s End and grabbed a squishy for Dean (Harriet’s for word a smoothy that Dean has adopted) and a coffee and pastry for me. We headed down to the beach to see the ocean for the first time in the daylight, and it was amazing! The water was dotted with surfers for as far as the eye could see, and the water was COLD at 70 degrees. It was also very windy at the beach. Even with their wet suits, I dunno how they could stand it! But the waves were the biggest I had ever seen at a meager 7 foot and we watched them all pick their swells and ride them to the beach.

Afterward we walked back towards our apartment, planning to visit all the shops. There are a few T-shirt souvenirs I wanna get at some point, but they can wait. We veered off the road onto the path next to the Venice canals just to see where they went, and wow was I glad we did! Along the path were the most Kaston-type homes I had ever seen; all very modern with a bungalow twist, usually with 2 or more “uneven” stories and bright colors. Dean looked up what they were going for - a few were for sale, and I had guessed half a mill - but they were going for around 2 million! How does anyone afford that?!

We got back to the apartment and met up with Dean’s co-worker Joe (he was offered the same deal as Dean) and headed back out - this was about 12 now - for some lunch with him. Joe forgot his sunglasses, and since we had stopped by all the shops earlier, I knew just where to take him. Joe has a thing for those giant 80s cop sunglasses, but I think they just make the wearer look like The Fly from the movie with the same name.

We went and ate at a Greek place and headed out the to beach again to watch the waves and surfers. By now, most of the surfers were gone and the beach was moderately crowded with families and kiddos building sand castles. No adults were swimming - the water was too damn cold - but the kids did not seem to mind. The sand was really hot, but it felt great since the sea breeze was really cold. Dean decided that if he was going to be in all this sun, he needed some sunglasses too, even if it meant he could not see. So we got him and me some matching ones and headed back to the apartment.

We all decided to go down to the pool, which is smaller than the ocean, but was about 20 degrees warmer! To our delight, it was a salt water pool! We swam and smelled the barbecue the Jamaicans were making, and then laid in the sun. My face got a little red. I will use sunblock next time! Joe had the idea to go work out, so we headed back and changed and went off to the gym.

I had the impression that everyone would be stick thin from regurgitating their food, so I would not feel bad about myself for being a little “healthy” weight wise, but they are not at all! This place is not called muscle beach for nothing! Everyone is really in shape, so it has motivated us to do the same; we plan on going to the gym every day in hopes of looking like “Californians” by the time we go back to Texas!

By the time we were done, we were exhausted but hungry, so we went to Joe’s and ate some watermelon followed by going to get some NYC pizza. It was yummy and we were tired! We took a nap at 7 and did not get up until the next day!

Now we are heading to the clubhouse to get free breakfast and we will see where the day goes from there!