Well, I promised a long post, and you got it.

Okay, well, I'm back now, officially not ticked off at my blog anymore. Of course, by now I probably forget everything that happened, but hey. That means more free time for all of you, right?

Okay, so I left off two Sundays ago, at the time of my update. I don't think anything major happened for the rest of that day, although I probably advanced in Tales of Symphonia some.

On Monday, we had Dance, and I know I was there, but the only thing I remember is being told that we were going to be doing those evil traveling timesteps really fast in our routine . . . ugh. After Dance, I think I was just online for a while, and playing ToS for most of the day. Also, since we were going on vacation the next day, Mom called Coventry (the “pet resort” where our dog was to stay). She discovered that, hey, Jersey was behind on his shots, and couldn't be boarded until he was caught up. So that meant that our departure on Tuesday was delayed until we got all this taken care of.

Naturally, Mom called Banfield (our vet) immediately to try to get Jersey an appointment immediately, but discovered that we were unable to take him in until 2:00 on Tuesday.

So we were all kind of bummed about that, and then rehearsal happened. I got my schedule out when I was writing the post that got deleted, so you don't have to wait any before I figure out what happened. We were running act two that night (which was July 25, so that you know I'm not talking about this week). It was the second time we'd run act two while I was there, and thus the second time I got to throw shoes at Nick and Megan. Which was made even better by the evil genius known as Melody. I'm standing up in my little loft place, prepping for the scene and listening to Megan and Nick singing their song, when who should be coming up my ladder but Melody herself. I gave her a somewhat bewildered look, as if to say “What the heck are you doing??” She shoved something into my hand and said “Throw these!” and then hurried back down the ladder. I looked at the shoes I was now holding in my hand, and I started cracking up, and I'm kind of surprised no one heard it. In any case, The song ended, and I stepped out onto the spot where I was throwing shoes from and said my line about them shutting up. I then pulled my head back into “my house,” and they finished their little thing that gets me even more upset. I take a step out onto the loft. I let the first shoe fly. A silent pause. Steve starts laughing. Megan starts laughing. Pretty soon everyone was laughing, except for Nick, because he had the next line. He said it, I threw the second shoe. Nick picked it up, and everyone started laughing again.

“Ha . . .now I . . . have . . . a . . . new pair.” He says, holding up the ballet shoes I've just thrown at him.

Probably, you didn't find that funny at all. But it was hilarious. Even Steve thought so (Steve is the director, if you've forgotten). After the run-through, we were sitting in the seats discussing shoes. The costumer said “Any questions about shoes?” Melody raised her hand, clutching the ballet shoes. “Can I wear these?” Steve replied, “No, because Mark is going to throw them.” Which of course got everyone laughing again. *sigh* Good times.

Now. On to Tuesday. Tuesday dawned with the bright promise of going on vacation. However, there was also the grim prospect of taking Jersey to the vet. Why was this a grim prospect? Let's examine what his chart says: “Jersey Harbison: CAUTION CAUTION CAUTION MUZZLE MUZZLE MUZZLE BE CAREFUL.” “Muzzle” is written three times because he has a nasty habit of taking muzzles off, so they have to get three ready.

Anyway, we got there, and he had his shots and stuff, which for some reason took half an hour, and put us behind schedule. Then we took him to the Coventry Pet Resort, where he greeted the lady with a “Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.” And had “caution” written on his chart. But we left him there. Perhaps, if I feel like it, we'll return to him at random intervals throughout this entry, and I'll make up fictional stories about what's happening. But probably not.

After we'd dropped him off, we finally, at around 3:15, began our trip down to Newport Beach and the Hyatt Hotel. (Isn't that such a cool name? They Hyatt Hotel . . . Wayne would love it.) It was a shorter trip than we anticipated, and we made it there by around 4:00. So after checking in and such (and a very humorous experience that was, as you shall see), it was 4:30. Ah, but I'm getting ahead of the story . . .

We got to the Hyatt (after much argument between Mom and Dad as to whether we were heading the right way), and were greeted by a valet. We aren't used to staying in fancy hotels, so from the start we were totally out of place. The valet told us to stop, and we got out. He said “Valet or Self-park?” Dad, having as I said no experience with such things, replied “Uhh . . . self-park.” He expected this to mean that we would park the car ourselves. So we get out, stretch, put our luggage on one of those cart thingies, and all of a sudden the valet is driving off with our car. Now, since Dad said Self-Park, we had no idea what was going on. (As it turned out, he was just moving it so other cars could get through. But we didn't know that.) So we stood there bewildered for a moment, then decided to check in. Which went, amazingly enough, somewhat smoothly. By this time the valet had returned our car, so Dad went to park it, and Mom and I went to find out room. Another hotel working pushed our cart for us, and eventually ended up leading us. (Mom: “Uhh . . .” Guy: “I was wondering if you knew where you were going . . . this way.”)

He lead us past the first of the Hyatt's three pools, which was heated and also in the same area as a shuffleboard court and two ping-pong tables. We continued past the soda and ice machines, and he told us of a secret passage behind them leading to the lobby. Then we caught sight of the second pool, also heated but without the frills of the other pool. As it turned out, this pool was about 20 feet from our door. Which meant we could almost literally roll out of bed and into to pool. Which rocked.

So then I went back to the lobby and got Dad, and brought him back to our room (after a bit of a misadventure in which I forgot our room number and was hopelessly wandering around when Mom opened the door). Once he got there, it was, as I said, about 4:30. Too early for dinner, but too close to dinner time to do a whole lot. So we decided to take a walk around the grounds, and we set a tee time for Wednesday at the Chip and Putt Golf Course.

This walk took us about a half an hour, and so at 5:00 we decided that we were all moderately hungry, and so we decided to go out to dinner. “Hey,” we said, “How hard can it be to find a restaurant?” Pretty hard, apparently. We drove around for at least 45 minutes, and ended up at the Fashion Island mall, which was (humiliatingly) about 2 minutes from the hotel. We drove around in there for a while, after my declining to eat at “Ray's Hawaiian Fusion.” Finally we saw Flemings, a Steak house, and so we parked at went in to eat, all starved at this point.

Since it was a steak house, I was expecting an Outback-y type of restaurant. Nothing could've been further from the truth. Well, I suppose if I'd been expecting McDonald's, that would've been a bit further. But I digress. Anyway, it turned out not to be just a steak house, but a steak and wine house. So there were people there in suits (we were in shorts and T-shirts, but they let us in anyway), and it was dark and had a very rich, elegant, sophisticated ambience. But that all was forgotten when we saw the menu.

It was one of those places where nothing comes with anything else. So if you wanted a salad, you bought your entrée and a salad, and whatever side dish you wanted. So that alone would've been expensive. But add to that the fact that the cheapest steak was like 20 bucks, and the most expensive one 39 bucks.

Our tip was $25. Our final bill (including the tip) was $150. But man, was it good. Best Caesar Salad I've ever had. Best Pork Chop (didn't feel like steak) I've ever had. Superb Baked Potato.

So after dinner we walked around in the mall for a while, and Dad and I bought sunglasses, and I realized that I'm already on Page 3 in Word, and am only on last Tuesday.

Anyway, after the mall we went back to the Hyatt and swam for a while, then watched TV for a while, then went to bed. Wednesday the 26 was our only full day there, so we decided to milk it for all it was worth and do some serious relaxing. We went out to breakfast at Coco's, then went to Albertson's to get stuff for lunch. Mom got drinks while Dad and I walked across the parking lot to a deli, where we got subs. An interesting experience. It was an Italian sub place, but it was run by a Chinese guy. So it was somewhat difficult to get subs. Guy: “Swalmipepprohnki?” Dad: “Yeah.”

When we came out and met up with Mom at the car, she asked what we had gotten. Dad: “No idea.” In the end, it was Salami and Pepperoni with lettuce and tomato and mayo, and was actually really good.

Upon getting back to the hotel, we decided to spend the day out by the pool, either in it or reading by it. I read quite a bit of The Princess Bride, which was a really good book, which was written by S. Morgenstern and abbreviated by William Goldman. The movie was better, but the book was a bit more interesting (the Pit of Despair plays a bigger role, and is much cooler). After lunch I went swimming for a while, then Dad and I played ping-pong (Final scores: Dad 21, Mark 6; Dad 21, Mark 11; Dad 21, Mark 15). Then at 4:00, we headed out to the gold course while Mom went back into our room to read some more.

If you aren't familiar with Chip and Putt golf, it's basically like real golf only much shorter (holes from 50-100 yards), and you only need a Putter and a Chipping Wedge. This particular course also had only 9 holes, not the traditional 18.

It was a lot of fun. The highlight of the vacation. Not surprisingly, I was awful, but so was Dad, and we didn't keep score so it didn't FEEL like we were doing awful. My best shot came on Hole 2, when I hit the ball off of the tee and onto the green about two yards from the hole. This was in front of Mom, too, which was very cool. I about 10-putted, but hitting the first shot was fun. In the end, we skipped hole 8 because we lost like 4 balls there, so we just moved on to the last hole, where Dad almost killed himself by hitting the ball off the tee, into a tree, and right back nearly into his head.

So after that we went out to dinner, which wasn't as much an adventure because we just went to Fashion Island's food court. They had a Philly grill there. Dad asked the guy if it was really Philly Cheesesteaks, and the guy's answer was, simply put, “no.” (We're from Philly, if you didn't know, so we knew what real cheesesteaks are.) There was one cheesesteak there . . . the Southpaw, I think it was called . . . but it was a cheesesteak, using Cheese Whiz as cheese. Which is like the most pathetic thing ever. Dad and I got Rocky Balboas, which were basically just regular cheesesteaks. Mom got some gross pasta thing with Shrimp and some other gross stuff I can't remember.

After dinner, Mom wanted to walk around, so me and Dad took our places at a nice place with fancy chairs and read. Actually, before that, I accompanied Mom to the Apple Store where we bought . . . COMPUTER SPEAKERS!!!! YAY!!!!!!! The difference is incredible . . . it's so much better sounding it's hard to believe. We also got a cool pilot headset thingy, which some of you have experienced me using. We got this stuff because I'm taking online courses for school next year, so we needed this stuff (seriously, it was actually required, I didn't just use it as an excuse) and DSL, which is allegedly coming.

So after that I did sit down and read for about an hour, which ended up including my favorite part of the book. Then we went back to the room, and Mom and Dad read, and I played Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, then we all went to bed.

On Thursday, we had to check out at 12 noon, so we got up early and Dad and I we golfing again, which was pretty much the same as Wednesday, only we played the 8th hole this time, and I actually hit my best shot on it. Then we went back to the room, and swam for a short time, then checked out and headed home. We reached home at about 1:30 or so, and went to Mimi's for lunch. Then we crashed for the rest of the day and Friday, as well. We had decided that we were going to be out of communication with the outside world (save lifehouse) for those two days.

Note, however, the “save lifehouse” in parentheses. I had rehearsals on Thursday and Friday night.

Thursday. Larry was there, choreographing some stuff we hadn't finished yet, then we ran Act 2. Actually, the choreography took longer than expected, so we didn't make it all the way through. But it was all right. (Nothing interesting really happened.)

On Friday, we had a mini vocal rehearsal, then started at the top of the show and didn't make it quite to the end of Act 2. But I discovered that on Tuesday night, when I wasn't there, Larry had totally changed the opening scene, so I felt like a total idiot. Thank the Lord for people like Melody and Jeremy who were looking out for me and telling me what had been changed. So in the end it turned out all right, although I was in the front for one part, so there was no one to tell me that I was doing it wrong, and I was frozen and everyone else was dancing . . . that was unpleasant. Mercifully, it was easy, so now I know it and look like I wasn't missing.

Then came Saturday. Since AJ had ditched us to go to a Caedmon's Call concert while we were in Newport, we decided to go to Long Beach and take him along. So on Saturday morning we all piled into the car and drove up to Fullerton to pick him up and see his apartment. That was an adventure in itself. First, we got off the freeway, and Mom says “Okay, now turn right and it's right there.” So Dad turns right and we drive for about 5 minutes until the road dead ends. So Mom has to call AJ and find out where we went wrong. Which, it turns out, was the right turn. Had we turned left, it would indeed have been right there. So finally we found the apartment complex, and parked. AJ had told us earlier that his room was number 508 (cue laughing from those who can already predict what's coming). So we go in and march right up to room number 508 and knock on the door. No answer. Since we had just talked to AJ, we didn't know how this could be. So we knocked again. No answer.

After knocking maybe four or five times, Mom finally called AJ and said “We're standing at your door knocking, but no one's answering.” We could hear AJ talking, saying “Well I don't see you at the door. . .” So then we realize the truth. It isn't room number 508. AJ just happens to not know his own address, so we went to the wrong room, and so where we were actually supposed to be was 507, the room just downstairs. *giant sigh*

So we were there for a little while, AJ and Doug showed us around and we met Jake, and discovered that much of their furniture was taken from the garbage. Which of course didn't go over too well with Mom. She prescribed Lysol.

After all of this, we finally just took AJ and went to Long Beach. Our original plan was to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific, but we decided to do that on Sunday instead, and so we went on a boat tour of Long Beach Harbor when we got there, after eating (and spending half an hour finding a parking space).

The tour was cool, we got to see all kinds of interesting things, from the Queen Mary to THUMB Island. It would've been great had it not been for what happened immediately before it. We boarded the boat, and every minute or so for at least 20 minutes, someone would call out “This is the LAST CALL to get tickets for the tour!” Then, a minute later, “This is the LAST CALL to get your tickets!” Finally, however, the person shut up and we went on the cruise which was cool, as I said.

After the cruise we walked around for a while, and just missed a band playing Beatles songs. There really wasn't a whole lot of interesting stuff (although I saw a leprechaun hat that I almost got for Doug Miller . . . which probably only Megan will find funny, if even her). Then we went and checked into our hotel, and were going to go swimming, but there were between 20 and 40 Asian people in the pool playing water polo or volleyball or something. So we decided not to go swimming just then.

We watched TV for a bit, and walked around some more (desperately trying to find some stores, but failing). Then AJ and I did some walking on Treadmills, then we went to Islands for dinner, which was very good. AJ and I also played Ghost for a long time while waiting, I won about 3 rounds. Rounds, not games. As in, AJ got about 3 letters over the course of about 45 minutes.

Then we went back to the hotel and showed Dad Legendary Frog's The Matrix has You. We also showed him some Homestar Runner stuff, but Dad didn't seem to like it too much. Then we slept.

In the morning, we went to the Aquarium (we never did get around to swimming). It was very cool, except for the creepy Jellyfish. My two greatest fears are spiders and jellyfish. Just thought you should know that to understand why I didn't like the jellyfish too much.

We saw some cool fish, though, and AJ took lots of pictures, although since there was lots of glass I don't know how many of them turned out well. The sharks were cool. But the whole thing is kind of hard to describe. So either ask AJ to see the pictures, or ask me to show them to you once I talk to AJ and remember to get them onto our computer.

After the Aquarium, I think we just ate lunch and went back to Fullerton, and dropped AJ off, then went home and crashed and wasted the rest of the day.

Then, come the next day, a horrible, terrifying thing happened. Yes. Heck week had begun. (For those of you not familiar with Lifehouse, that's the Lifehouse name for “Tech Week,” the last week before the show opens).

I'd be more than happy to tell you about Heck week, but this post is already too long, and it's almost 5, so I pretty much have to eat and go to rehearsal. So tomorrow I shall continue this post with Monday, and cover up to tomorrow. Deal? Good.

Comments:
NOTE: Since there are so many comments to cover, I may be skipping some that I think are either answered by other comments or repeating another one. Just so you know.
COMMENTS ON “…KEEP DOING THAT SPOON THING.”
Stephen: Well, sorry I ignored you, but it isn't my fault that I'm already writing my next post by the time you posted your comment . . .

David: lol . . . I'd love to see which princess Sarah is. I'll have to give it to her, if Megan ever finishes it.

Rachael: Firstly, why should I not bug you about not being at dance, when everyone bugged me about it? Huh?? Give me ONE good reason. Hmmmm? I'll be waiting . . . (and the water in the Makeup hall is filtered and perfectly sanitary, thank you very much).

Megan: Good. Hopefully it'll be done now, a week later . . .

Rachael again: Okay, I was tired, give me a break. Plus, I've been reading Rae's stuff too much (“yeah, that perdy bore me to death”) :P

COMMENTS ON “SHORTEST POST EVER BY ME”
Stephen and Rae: Well, you can now see for yourself.

COMMENTS ON “WELL, HERE IT IS”
Rachael: A) There's no way to program it that way, no, and B) Take it up with Mrs. Perry.

AJ, Rae, Stephen: Yeah, I did this one on word, thanks for the suggestion : )

Eleanor: lol . . . yeah, that just might work. Too bad it's too late now. Well I'll remember that for the future. And thank your for the compliment about the headset . . . although I'm rather surprised no one has ever done it in your presence before . . . I'm happy I could introduce you to this incredible concept.

(Note: Final count: Pages: 7, Words: 3859)