I'M BAAA-AACK! Didja miss me?

[agt_spooky]

Well, I'm sad to say that my summer vacation is over. :-(

I returned home from my week in California on Saturday evening and promptly fell into a sleep-deprived coma for most of the day on Sunday. :-)

But the sleep deprivation was worth it to spend a week with seven of my closest friends. We spent several days in the majestic beauty that is Yosemite, took a tour of a gold mine, cracked open some geodes, spent time in San Francisco in the Castro district and also Fisherman's Warf and Pier 39, took in the hysterical musical Beach Blanket Babylon and took a tour through the Winchester Mystery House.

I'll write up much more later, and post a few pics of the more than 300 I took, but I just have to show you guys this - I KID YOU NOT, this is the house we stayed at while in Yosemite - Villa Yosemite. The place was a freaking mansion! Check out the rotating pics of the place on the home page. It was unbelieveable!

I didn't have computer access while I was away, so I'm terribly, horribly out of the loop on what's all going on with your lives, so please let me know if something wonderful or exciting happened to you in the last week. I wanna know! :-)

Many, many thanks to alli_everyday and sen1995 for letting me know about various SPN happenings over the past week. Those new/old pics of Jensen - YOWSA!

I missed a couple of birthdays last week, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my friends alli_everyday and andeincascade. Hope you had lovely days, ladies!

And speaking of birthday's - today is janissa11's! So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you, Em! Have a fantastic day. :-)

Ok, gotta run and get to work. Ugh. Being off for a week means coming back to hundreds of emails and a mountain of paperwork on my desk. Blech. I wish I was still in California. *g*

Comments

[bitchtude.livejournal.com]

Welcome back! Can't wait to see and hear all about your adventures :-)

That place you stayed at in Yosemite... holy cow!! That place looks awesome! I wouldn't have wanted to leave, LOL!

[agt-spooky.livejournal.com]

Can't wait to see and hear all about your adventures

I'll be posting pictures tomorrow! :-)

That place you stayed at in Yosemite... holy cow!!

It was absolutely amazing! We wished we could have stayed there for a few more days and just lounged around in the hot tub and then watched movies in the entertainment room. *g*

[cindyls.livejournal.com]

Oh no, you were right here at the Mystery House and you didn't call, lol. As I said in my post before, I live about 8 miles from the place ;-)
I hope you had a great time; that house is a real trip, isn't it? I'm glad we had nice weather for your vacation as well ;-)
Today is my sister's birthday and tomorrow is mine AND Jim Beaver's -whoo! I share a birthday with 'Bobby' ;-)

[agt-spooky.livejournal.com]

I'm so mad that I didn't have internet the entire time I was out there, as I didn't get your original message until I got back home! D'oh! I would have loved to have met up with you. :-)

We totally loved going through the House. What a crazy place! And hearing the story behind it all was fascinating. And the gardens were beautiful!

whoo! I share a birthday with 'Bobby

Oh man, that rocks!

[cindyls.livejournal.com]

Oh man, it would have been cool to meet up ;-)
Yep, I love that the Winchester House is well known and shares its name with our boys ;-)
Me and Bobby - hee hee..so cool ;-)

[tracys-dream.livejournal.com]

Welcome back!
Don't know if you've seen the Ghostfacers footage from the comic con. There's a download link in dean_sam as well as an interview:

http://community.livejournal.com/dean_sam/5161437.html#cutid1

http://community.livejournal.com/dean_sam/5201403.html

[agt-spooky.livejournal.com]

Oh yay, thank you so much for the links! I'm off to go read and see! :-)

[sonicbookmark.livejournal.com]

Barbbbbbbb!

Did those naked statues give you a hard on?

[agt-spooky.livejournal.com]

Oh baby, you know they did. ;-)

[dairwendan.livejournal.com]

Great to have you back! Sounds like an amazing vacation!

Welcome Back (SPOILER ALERT FOR "X-Files:IWTB!!!)

[feldspar2.livejournal.com]

I am DYING to hear about the Winchester House--it looks so magnificent in pictures and yet it's so terribly sad--so much money and magnificence, and that poor woman living there alone and apparently never enjoying her life or her wealth.

I just started "Twilight"--please, please, please, everybody, put spoilers on your Es so I don't find out what happens in "Breaking Dawn"! "T" is my bedside table book (along with "Watchmen", heh)and I'm only up to Chapter Seven!

Saw "X-Files: I Want to Believe," and I have to say, I was disappointed. "Fight the Future" is WAY better.

The Good Stuff: Well, of course, David and Gillian. I'll love Mulder and Scully forever, no matter what.

Callum Keith Rennie. God, I adore him.

Mitch Pileggi. Double, triple adore.(SKINNER LIVES!)

Nikki Aycox! YAY, lady! We miss you!!

The scenery. I MISS SNOW.

The music.

The Bad Stuff: The script. Pretty much all of it. Frank Spotnitz and Chris Carter claim they lost the index cards they'd done another script with--bet they wish they'd found them. I understand the contrast between Scully's fight at the hospital over the little boy and the bad Russian freaks, but it was done better, numerous times, on the show. Here, these two plot lines never mesh on any level, and for me? (REALLY, REALLY, BIG-ASS SPOILER ALERT! DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU PLAN TO SEE THE MOVIE!!) When I realized that they were going to put a man's head on a woman's body, that just tossed me out of the movie with a thud. It was just too ridiculous. Honestly, couldn't these guys have kidnapped a MAN for their experiments? Also, I was confused about Mulder and Scully--are they living together, or not? And why is Mulder sitting in that little den of his, clipping newspapers? Is he retired? (the FBI must have a hell of a pension plan.) Is Scully supporting the both of them? And would she really accept Mulder doing this day after day?

Note to Carter: if there's going to be an "X-Files 3," please, please don't hired another rapper to play another Angry Black Man, okay? Black men can be intelligent, charming, and pleasant. Amanda Peet phoned it in. For this pair of agents, Chris, you could have used--oh, I dunno, Robert Patrick and Annabeth Gish? Just a thought.

The movie's not an absolute stinker, but there's no great Mulder/Scully moment like the numerous ones in "FTF"--I didn't expect to see them doing the mattress mambo, but good grief, these people went from enemies to partners and friends, fought cancer and conceived a child, and "IWTB" shows them as little more than roomies. The scene by the car at the end was better, but it was a case of too little, too late.

(OKAY, SPOILER OVER.)

Other than that, I'm watching "Swingtown" and "Mad Men (aka "It Was Great to be a White Guy in the Sixties")and watching to see if Jon Hamm's hair moves.(Nope, it never does.)

Re: Welcome Back (SPOILER ALERT FOR "X-Files:IWTB!!!)

[agt-spooky.livejournal.com]

Hey you!

I am DYING to hear about the Winchester House

It was so cool! What a bizarre place. I don't know how that woman (or her servants) never got lost in that maze of a house. And you're right, it was terribly sad. She was convinced that the spirits of the people killed by the Winchester rifle were responsible for her infant daughter and her husband's death, so she kept building that house to appease them for the next 38 years, until her own death. She was quite the recluse, but a fair employer, as long as you didn't question her whims!

I just started "Twilight"

You'll have to let me know how you like the entire series, because I'm wondering if I should check it out as well.

Saw "X-Files: I Want to Believe," and I have to say, I was disappointed. "Fight the Future" is WAY better.

I absolutely and totally agree.

The Good Stuff: Well, of course, David and Gillian. I'll love Mulder and Scully forever, no matter what.

Me, too! Even though I ended up slashing Mulder and Skinner, I'll always be a die-hard 'shipper. :-)

Nikki Aycox! YAY, lady! We miss you!!

I have to admit I didn't even recognize her without the short blonde hair!

Mitch Pileggi. Double, triple adore.(SKINNER LIVES!)

YAY!! There were so many conflicting reports on whether or not he was actually going to be in the movie that myself (and the rest of the theater!) all clapped and cheered when he appeared.

The Bad Stuff: The script. Pretty much all of it.

Again, I totally agree.

When I realized that they were going to put a man's head on a woman's body, that just tossed me out of the movie with a thud

ESPECIALLY because the men were GAY! So what the hell kind of message was Carter trying to get across there?? That kind of disturbed me.

Also, I was confused about Mulder and Scully--are they living together, or not?

I'm glad I wasn't the only one confused. At the beginning, when she first goes to see Mulder, you'd have no idea these two were still in a relationship. But then they're in bed together and later Scully tells him she won't be home. I was like, huh?

And why is Mulder sitting in that little den of his, clipping newspapers? Is he retired?

Well, since he's been on the FBI's most wanted list for the last six years, after escaping prison (with Scully and Skinner's help, but neither of them are in trouble??) I guess he doesn't have much to occupy his time, hiding out.

Note to Carter: if there's going to be an "X-Files 3," please, please don't hired another rapper to play another Angry Black Man, okay? Black men can be intelligent, charming, and pleasant.

Yes, thank you! I didn't care for him, or Amanda Peet, at all. Both of them were like rocks. Thankfully we didn't have to worry about Amanda for the entire movie!

The movie's not an absolute stinker, but there's no great Mulder/Scully moment like the numerous ones in "FTF"

Very true. I didn't absolutely hate it, but unlike FTF, that I saw in the theater nearly a dozen times, I only saw IWTB twice and have no desire to see it again. Chris tried too hard to make it a movie that anyone could watch, even if you've never seen an episode of XF. But I ask you? If you never saw a single episode in NINE YEARS, why on EARTH would you suddenly want to see a movie about it?? So he tried too hard and ended up alienating us long time loyal fans because it didn't have that XF feel to it at all.

The scene by the car at the end was better, but it was a case of too little, too late.

Especially since that long awaited kiss was mainly showing the back of Mulder's freaking head! God, who was the cinematographer on that?? Argh!

So yeah, I was SO excited for this movie, but it fell flat for me. :-(

[duffy-99.livejournal.com]

Welcome back! Hope you had a great trip. I visited the Winchester House long ago; bet I would love it more now! Hey, I don't think I told you I went to Comic Con and saw Jensen and Jared from the 12th row and it was beyond awesome but my pics didn't come out at all but I saw them I saw them I saw them....I'm rambling now, aren't I?

You can ask sen1995 how much sense I made when I called her after the panel!

[agt-spooky.livejournal.com]

Welcome back! Hope you had a great trip.

It was fantastic!

I visited the Winchester House long ago; bet I would love it more now!

Well definitely, since now you'd be on the lookout for Sam and Dean, making the visit much more interesting. :-)

I don't think I told you I went to Comic Con and saw Jensen and Jared from the 12th row and it was beyond awesome

OMG! No, you didn't tell me!! I'm so jealous of you I can't stand it!! Did you get their autographs, too??

[duffy-99.livejournal.com]

Oh no, twelfth row was as close as we got! In a room of 2,000 people that was pretty good! Autographs were done after for a very limited time down on the exhibits floor at the Warner Bros. booth. Booth signings are a zoo; you have to have gotten a ticket ahead of time (don't know if it was a lottery or what, probably so). And even then you're squished in, and the thought of it makes me more than a little claustrophobic!

But they were SO cute on the panel and Kripke was great and we saw the Ghostfacers come bursting in (I don't love them, but others seem to!), and they showed us clips and bloopers and it was all so exciting. I think I remember squeeing out loud A LOT. :-)

We did go down to the exhibits floor after to take a peek. Couldn't get close to the WB booth (but better than last year when I was almost trampled trying to see the top of Jensen's head!). But this year they had big screens above the booth, so you could see Jensen on the screen. (Jared didn't do autographs; he had to go to the Friday the 13th panel.) Then later we saw Jensen up on the upper level of the booth (which looks over the exhibit floor) talking to press and he waved at the crowd several times.

Of course I'm sure he was waving just at me. Right? Right? :-)

Sorry to ramble!

[agt-spooky.livejournal.com]

Oh no, twelfth row was as close as we got! In a room of 2,000 people that was pretty good!

That really is awesome! Did you have to stand in line for forever to be able to get that close?

Booth signings are a zoo;

I saw a brief video of the autograph line and it looked more like an assembly line, with people getting pushed past Eric and Jensen, etc. Didn't look like a pleasant experience!

But they were SO cute on the panel and Kripke was great

I've been trying to find the time to watch all the parts of it that's been posted on YouTube. :-) But what's with the wank going on that it looked like Jensen and Jared were mad at each other and it was totally apparent by the way they acted toward each other at the panel. Did you pick up on anything?

and we saw the Ghostfacers come bursting in (I don't love them, but others seem to!)

I'm quite over the Ghostfacers myself. I loved them in Hell House, but G.F. wasn't a funny episode to me and I don't see why we need them back next season as well.

and they showed us clips and bloopers and it was all so exciting. I think I remember squeeing out loud A LOT

LOL! I would've, too! The bloopers that they showed, was that the entire gag reel or just a part of it?

But this year they had big screens above the booth, so you could see Jensen on the screen

Oh, that's cool! So at least you got to see him that way.

Then later we saw Jensen up on the upper level of the booth (which looks over the exhibit floor) talking to press and he waved at the crowd several times

Neat!

Of course I'm sure he was waving just at me. Right? Right?

Well of COURSE he was! Did he blow you a kiss, too? ;-)

Sorry to ramble!

Oh man, ramble all you want! I'm living vicariously through you! :-)