Something that's been on my mind recently.
I'm a published novelist. My first novel was published last year in July. I achieved moderate sucess with it, and I put some money in my pocket. But, the bottom line is that I fulfilled a life long dream...being able to hold my own novel in my hand.
But...I'm not a diva. I don't need pandering. I don't go around crowing over my accomplishments because that's not the kind of person I am. I don't even really use the Twitter I set up for my pen name because I'm as ignored there as I am on my personal Twitter.
This has only been on my mind because I'm tired of the diva-like attitudes that most of the other authors in my "house" seem to have. Talk about liking to hear the sound of one's own voice!
In this day of insta-celebs, I'm just an average everyday person who puts her pants on one leg at a time and goes to work every day.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
@wwe #WM26 Predictions -- edited to add results!
I'll start by mentioning my favorite Wrestlemania matches. I have two.
Most inspiring match: Triangle Ladder Match;;Edge-Christian-Hardyz-Dudlez;;WM16
Wrestlemania 16 is the first 'Mania I ever watched. I was just getting in to watching wrestling at the time. For some reason, this match really piqued my interest, and contributed to me becoming hopelessly hooked on all things WWF(E). The moment when Jeff Hardy swantonned off that incredibly high ladder clicked something into place for me.
Favorite match: World Heavyweight Championship;;HHH-Batista;;WM21
This is my favorite match for two reasons. First, and most importantly, I was there live. Wrestlemania live is something that every wrestling fan should experience at least once in their lives. Of course the other reason is that Batista is one of my all-time favorites. The build-up to this match was legendary, in my mind. Watching it unfold over several months, so cleverly executed, I was totally wrapped up in the ceremony of the match. And seeing Batista's genuine reaction in the ring. Wow. Unforgettable.
And now...on to my non-scientific predictions, such as they are. These are in the order I found them on WWE.com...I'm not going to begin to try to figure out which order they'll come up on the show. My predictions are in bold. I would also like to point out that I have not picked my favorite wrestler in each matchup, if I did that the predictions would look much different. Some of these guys I really can't stand...Randy Orton being one of them. While I don't understand the vehemence with which some people hate Batista...I also don't understand the vehemence with which some people LOVE Orton.
edited to add actual winners by underlining them
++The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels
++Bret Hart vs Mr. McMahon
++WWE Champion Batista vs John Cena
++World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho vs Edge
++Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Kane
Kofi Kingston
Evan Bourne
MVP
Christian
Dolph Ziggler
Shelton Benjamin
Jack Swagger
Matt Hardy
Drew McIntyre
++Unified Tag Team Champion Big Show & The Miz vs John Morrison & R-Truth
++Triple H vs Sheamus
++Randy Orton vs Ted DiBiasse vs Cody Rhodes
++CM Punk vs Rey Mysterio
As for the 10 diva tag match...don't really care who wins that one, and hoping it won't end up on the actual PPV.
I was 6 for 9...not bad!
Most inspiring match: Triangle Ladder Match;;Edge-Christian-Hardyz-Dudlez;;WM16
Wrestlemania 16 is the first 'Mania I ever watched. I was just getting in to watching wrestling at the time. For some reason, this match really piqued my interest, and contributed to me becoming hopelessly hooked on all things WWF(E). The moment when Jeff Hardy swantonned off that incredibly high ladder clicked something into place for me.
Favorite match: World Heavyweight Championship;;HHH-Batista;;WM21
This is my favorite match for two reasons. First, and most importantly, I was there live. Wrestlemania live is something that every wrestling fan should experience at least once in their lives. Of course the other reason is that Batista is one of my all-time favorites. The build-up to this match was legendary, in my mind. Watching it unfold over several months, so cleverly executed, I was totally wrapped up in the ceremony of the match. And seeing Batista's genuine reaction in the ring. Wow. Unforgettable.
And now...on to my non-scientific predictions, such as they are. These are in the order I found them on WWE.com...I'm not going to begin to try to figure out which order they'll come up on the show. My predictions are in bold. I would also like to point out that I have not picked my favorite wrestler in each matchup, if I did that the predictions would look much different. Some of these guys I really can't stand...Randy Orton being one of them. While I don't understand the vehemence with which some people hate Batista...I also don't understand the vehemence with which some people LOVE Orton.
edited to add actual winners by underlining them
++The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels
++Bret Hart vs Mr. McMahon
++WWE Champion Batista vs John Cena
++World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho vs Edge
++Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Kane
Kofi Kingston
Evan Bourne
MVP
Christian
Dolph Ziggler
Shelton Benjamin
Jack Swagger
Matt Hardy
Drew McIntyre
++Unified Tag Team Champion Big Show & The Miz vs John Morrison & R-Truth
++Triple H vs Sheamus
++Randy Orton vs Ted DiBiasse vs Cody Rhodes
++CM Punk vs Rey Mysterio
As for the 10 diva tag match...don't really care who wins that one, and hoping it won't end up on the actual PPV.
I was 6 for 9...not bad!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
BATISTA
Have I mentioned I've been a Batista fan since before it was fashionable to be one? Yeah, for some reason I've liked the big guy from prior to day one. I don't know why, but I have. And through all this time I've watched people love him and hate him. I haven't wavered.
Super amusing to me that many of the people who are singing his praises as a fantastic heel, on par with Punk and Jericho so I've heard, were trashing him just a year ago. He's been called everything from "green" to "ass kisser" to "delicate".
I've found that a lot of people (read: women) seem to love "pretty" wrestlers, and Batista is not a pretty wrestler. Look at his arms for one thing...he has giant VEINS in them. Horror! People who like these pretty wrestlers never want people like Batista to get near their favorites.
Eh...I guess I'm just a wrestling fan. I started out totally caught up in the characters, and I still am...caught up in characters.
I love me some Batista. I love me some heels.
And on Sunday...I want my heels to win big. Batista, Jericho, Punk, and Sheamus.
Note to WWE: This is the best Wrestlemania since WM21.
Super amusing to me that many of the people who are singing his praises as a fantastic heel, on par with Punk and Jericho so I've heard, were trashing him just a year ago. He's been called everything from "green" to "ass kisser" to "delicate".
I've found that a lot of people (read: women) seem to love "pretty" wrestlers, and Batista is not a pretty wrestler. Look at his arms for one thing...he has giant VEINS in them. Horror! People who like these pretty wrestlers never want people like Batista to get near their favorites.
Eh...I guess I'm just a wrestling fan. I started out totally caught up in the characters, and I still am...caught up in characters.
I love me some Batista. I love me some heels.
And on Sunday...I want my heels to win big. Batista, Jericho, Punk, and Sheamus.
Note to WWE: This is the best Wrestlemania since WM21.
Friday, March 19, 2010
My Smackdown 03/16/10 show
Warning, this post contains spoilers for tonight's Smackdown.
The tickets for this show went on sale long enough ago that it didn't occur to me that it would end up being right before Wrestlemania, and thus a good show. I did at the time briefly think it might be awesome because Batista and Jericho were on the same roster, but I really couldn't afford the tickets. Besides, by that time I knew Summer Slam was going to be in L.A. again this year, and decided I really wanted to go to that again, so skipping this show would be ok.
Then after they went on sale I got an email from Ticketmaster saying that they had some premium seats available. A friend urged me to check them out for the lulz. Ringside seats, the first row right around the ring, were offered for something like $800 or $850, kinda like the courtside seats for Lakers games. Heh. We LOL'd and moved on. After the Elimination Chamber I told myself, "Well, it's ok because Batista won't be there anyway since he's on Raw now."
About 2 weeks ago my friend asked me what I was doing on March 16. Tuesday night, so I say I'd be watching TV. She says wrong! I'm going to Smackdown. (!!!!!!!!!!!!) Without going into details the ringside seats had gone way down in price, less than half what they were originally. Still a lot of money, but in the end so worth it. In my experience nearly every seat at a wrestling event is good. We sat in nosebleed heaven for No Way Out once and they were pretty good seats considering. But nothing beats sitting ringside.
Traffic wasn't too bad, we got there and got parked really close (worth the extra $$) and there was a huge line. I remembered that when we went for Summer Slam we got in through some VIP entrance, so we walked around and there it was. Unfortunately, they wouldn't let us in that way :( Walked a little further and got to another VIP line and were again turned away. Dude for real, ringside seats aren't VIP? Anyway, we finally got to the right door, and after the girl read my signs and had no idea what any of them meant she let us in. We high-tailed it right to our seats.
For once we had relatively cool seat partners (I guess since the seats were pretty pricey). The downside was that we had 2 father-son combinations on either side of us. Little kids. They weren't too annoying though. Also, the security was Nazi like. "Sit down! Don't touch that railing. Don't put your hands there. SIT DOWN!" And, the railing was super high. Like I don't remember it being that high the last time we were by the ring. But...they were fantastic seats.
First was a dark match...Jimmy Wang Yang (!!!!) and Slam Master J vs Tyler Reks and Lance Archer. TMZ needs to get a load of Archer's tats if they think Batista's are gay, just sayin'. It was a good match, and Jimmy was right in front of us, so that was cool.
Next was NXT. Whee! I'd really been hoping for a Christian sighting, but it was not to be. First was the tag match with Justin Gabriel and Matt Hardy vs. Darren Young and Punk. I want to mark for Matt Hardy, but turns out I really don't anymore. Their corner was right in front of us, I saw a lot of his back. I do like Gabriel though, so that was cool. Punk cracked me up because he kept examining the tag rope instead of trying to get in the match. Gallows and Serena weren't over by our side, but I watched them a lot too. I felt like the match went on too long, but that's simply because I was waiting for either a Jericho or a Christian...or Bryan Danielson. ^^
Next up was Daniel Bryan vs Khali. I kept my sign up the whole time, Bryan looked over my way and I was sure he saw it but he didn't acknowledge it. I had visions in my head of the time we sat ringside at Staples for SD the other time, and Brian Kendrick acknowledged my Spanky sign. This was an ok match, I'd have loved to have seen Bryan Danielson in a real match, but it was cool to see him so close. And then we got a Big Show (GINORMOUS IN PERSON!) run in.
Turns out Bryan did see my sign, and awesomely, he tweeted @me. Ha! I saw your sign! Fantastic! @hardknox32 @DanielBryanNXT It was great seeing you at NXT last night! http://twitpic.com/1956v4
Christian's music hit and I fangirled! Only to find it was Heath Slater by himself and his opponent was Mr. 1.9 seconds. Ho hum.
And then....Jericho's first appearance of the night! OMG. Of course he went up the steps right in front of where we were sitting. Never glanced our way once, and I purposely didn't take pictures because I just wanted to watch him. During the match he was over by the announce table, not close to us...but I can't wait to watch the show to hear what he was saying.
[I have since watched the show, and when I set up the DVR I didn’t remember to make it a manual recording, so as soon as Jericho was exiting the ring…the recording stopped. WAH! Searched online and found the match…and I just have to say “DO YOUR JOB!!” killed me.]
Next was the Superstars match. Ho hum. I saw them set up Kane's pyro so I knew he was coming out. Then when it was Shelton I was a little more interested. The weird part about the match is that there were some botched spots that they just re-did right there in the ring like they knew they could edit it later. Kane’s top rope totally missed Shelton when he landed, next thing I know he's up there doing it again. That friggin' pyro is LOUD!
We saw a ton of WWE video packages. I didn't watch most of them, but I did watch one that was all the charitable things they do, it was kind of nice. Since SD isn't broadcast live there weren't that many of them during "commercial breaks"....at one point they did the "show us your sign" thing. :) I had a sign that said "I'm the best in the world at what I do" meaning to use it to mock Jericho. You know like if he looked at me with it I'd be pointing at myself saying "No Chris *I* am the best, not you!" LOL! So anyway, the cameraman comes over to me, the camera mere inches from my sign, and then he pushes it down and kinda back against me...so everyone got the idea that it was me, not Jericho who was the best. LOL! The guys behind us (who were kinda cool) told my friend she should have taken a picture of me. So I said "Was that on screen?" Duh Carol, that was the whole idea...:) I *think* there was a pretty big reaction to the sign.
So, the rest of the show.
Rey came out first to tell us stuff about last week. I only half listened. SES came out to challenge him to a match. Because I really only watch SES for the sex aspect of them (IE: they're always all touching each other), and I can take or leave Rey I didn't really pay strict attention to this exchange. Too busy watching the camera people...who are fascinating to watch.
Next was a match to hype the Money in the Bank match. MVP and Hardy vs Swagger and Ziggler. It was an ok match I presume, and I can't really remember who won. During this match I was staring at the back of MVP thinking geez, these guys are really beat up. I felt kind of bad for him in particular. At the end Ziggler got out a big ladder....it didn't bode well for the MITB match because he had trouble getting it out, trouble getting it into the ring, and trouble setting it up. He climbed up and immediately the ref came over and held the ladder.
That's another thing, I didn't see Charles Robinson which made me sad.
Next was the divas match. I don't like Michelle McCool. I do like Layla...and their entrance would have been pretty cool if we'd been on the other side of the ring. I guess this will sound like I'm a catty girl, but Layla has a big rear end....much bigger than the rest of her body. McCool is just a stick figure. In fact it was funny, the rowdy yet cool guys behind us seemed to think Layla's big booty was far more attractive than McCool in general. I wish WWE would get that message, seems like men in general want women with meat on their bones. They also liked Tiffany (and/or Beth). I got some pretty awesome pictures of Beth. I was laughing at these guys behind us because one of them kept saying "David, get pictures, David..PICTURES!" Vickie came out and I unfortunately didn't get any good pictures of her, but she was beautiful. Way smaller in person than she is on screen.
Next...THE CUTTING EDGE! Whee! Edge came out first, and we were treated to his strobe lights forever while they showed a video package. I was hoping there were no epileptics in the audience. Finally....break the walls down!!!!!!!!!!!! GUH!!! He looked every bit as suave as he did the first time and again he did not look my way. More on that later.
At first Wade Barrett was standing behind Jericho with his hands on his hips thus spreading the coat so that I couldn't see Jericho. Also, I have to admit I wasn't really listening to what they said to each other because I was too fascinated watching Chris. When everything broke down I nearly died. I will never get tired of watching Jericho strip out of his clothes like that. *wiggle* My pictures say it all...it was amazing times a million. I am actually stunned the picture of him coming out of the ring (down the stairs right in front of us!!!) turned out so well.
The Hart Dynasty came out next, and I spent their whole ring entrance trying to get Nattie to see my sign. She either didn't see it or didn't care to respond to it, I'm not sure which...but dear lord she's BEAUTIFUL. We thought their match would be vs Cryme Tyme...but it turned out to be John Morrison and R Truth. WHEE! Morrison is so gorgeous in person, and I touched his hand! *dies* Then we got too sing "what's up!!" with Truth. 'Twas all just awesome! Good match too, and again I'm not sure who won but I think it was Truth/Morrison.
Ok...next was the big long Rey vs Gallows segment. My goal during this was to watch Punk and Serena. Fascinating. They are pretty beautiful together...and I've never seen her that worked up. It was so fascinating that I really didn't watch any of the match (aside from that one picture I got...and that's a pretty awesome picture I think). I know Rey won the match, and I know that if Gallows had won there was some kind of promise about Rey joining the SES.
Next, the main event for the show. There was a time when the Undertaker made me weak, so seeing his entrance live...right in front of me...was cool and nostalgic. He moves so slow it was easy to get some decent pictures of him. And Drew....gah! He's so beautiful! It was a short match, which was ok...and then there was the Taker/Michaels thing. I couldn't see any of that in person because I wasn’t near the stage, so I was watching it on the screen...until I turned and saw Drew sprawled on the floor by the ring. OH. MY. GOD. *thud*
Then came the dark main event. I'd heard from someone on Twitter that first of all John Cena would be addressing all the rookies in the ring to start NXT. That didn't happen obviously. She also said there would be this dark main event...and by the time it was going to start I was afraid she was wrong about that too...but SO NOT WRONG!!!! There were 2 things that made this show awesome, well no 3. The DBMM sign getting noticed, the "show us your sign" segment...and this dark main event.
Heels: Jericho, Sheamus, Punk, and Batista vs Faces: Rey, Edge, HHH, and Cena.
Wow.
Jericho came out first. All shiny and oh-so-beautiful in his humongous belt. Then Sheamus, right in front of us. Then Punk with his posse (all still touching each other)...and then Batista. I stopped breathing. Batista was strooooooolllllllliiiiinnnnggg down the ramp. I decided to look back to see if Chris was watching him because you know, inquiring minds want to know. Dear lord. He was watching all right. He was giving Batista the sign, you're not going fast enough. He tapped his wrist like he was wearing a watch. Batista gave him the “I’m flipping you off in my head” look.
Then the faces came out, and aside from snapping that mega-close-up-thudworthy picture of Edge and taking a bit of time to watch HHH I ignored them completely, because I love me some heels. Batista literally paced the floor like a caged animal. I was fascinated.
I have no idea what really happened in the match, but here's what *I* saw. Jericho and Batista standing in their corner (opposite from us so we could see their faces not their asses) talking to each other. Jericho trash talking HHH. Batista manhandling Cena. And the faces won.
After the match was over Jericho parked himself in front of these people he knew, opposite of us. This is when I came to terms with the fact that Jericho doesn't “know” me anymore. Like, if I talked to him he might remember, and if I reminded him he *would* remember...but he's not that person anymore. All those cool "hey you guys" and "I know you" and "How was your Christmas" and XM Radio rants...those were all Jericho away from WWE times. Now I'm just a fan. And truly...I'm ok with that. Like I came to the realization that my "15 minutes" with Chris Jericho is over, but it doesn't change the fact that I had those 15 minutes.
Because the heels lost all of them, with the exception of a chatty-with-friends Jericho slithered off holding their collective heads.
The faces all celebrated, and I pretty much slapped hands with all of them. Edge and Rey for sure...I'm pretty sure HHH and maybe Cena. Rey gave some towel, or shirt, or something to a kid right beside us. That was cool. It was cool touching hands with the faces even though I didn't like any of them.
Oh speaking of which...I also touched hands with R Truth....slippery sweaty oily hand. :O
We got twisted around coming home. There was road construction and lanes opened and closed randomly...and I was DEAD tired because I'd woken up that morning at 4am with an earthquake.
As we were turning on to my street, one block away from my house, my phone rings. It's 11:30 now....my son is calling me. Are you coming home soon? LOL! He actually waited on the porch for me! Talk about role reversal.
The tickets for this show went on sale long enough ago that it didn't occur to me that it would end up being right before Wrestlemania, and thus a good show. I did at the time briefly think it might be awesome because Batista and Jericho were on the same roster, but I really couldn't afford the tickets. Besides, by that time I knew Summer Slam was going to be in L.A. again this year, and decided I really wanted to go to that again, so skipping this show would be ok.
Then after they went on sale I got an email from Ticketmaster saying that they had some premium seats available. A friend urged me to check them out for the lulz. Ringside seats, the first row right around the ring, were offered for something like $800 or $850, kinda like the courtside seats for Lakers games. Heh. We LOL'd and moved on. After the Elimination Chamber I told myself, "Well, it's ok because Batista won't be there anyway since he's on Raw now."
About 2 weeks ago my friend asked me what I was doing on March 16. Tuesday night, so I say I'd be watching TV. She says wrong! I'm going to Smackdown. (!!!!!!!!!!!!) Without going into details the ringside seats had gone way down in price, less than half what they were originally. Still a lot of money, but in the end so worth it. In my experience nearly every seat at a wrestling event is good. We sat in nosebleed heaven for No Way Out once and they were pretty good seats considering. But nothing beats sitting ringside.
Traffic wasn't too bad, we got there and got parked really close (worth the extra $$) and there was a huge line. I remembered that when we went for Summer Slam we got in through some VIP entrance, so we walked around and there it was. Unfortunately, they wouldn't let us in that way :( Walked a little further and got to another VIP line and were again turned away. Dude for real, ringside seats aren't VIP? Anyway, we finally got to the right door, and after the girl read my signs and had no idea what any of them meant she let us in. We high-tailed it right to our seats.
For once we had relatively cool seat partners (I guess since the seats were pretty pricey). The downside was that we had 2 father-son combinations on either side of us. Little kids. They weren't too annoying though. Also, the security was Nazi like. "Sit down! Don't touch that railing. Don't put your hands there. SIT DOWN!" And, the railing was super high. Like I don't remember it being that high the last time we were by the ring. But...they were fantastic seats.
First was a dark match...Jimmy Wang Yang (!!!!) and Slam Master J vs Tyler Reks and Lance Archer. TMZ needs to get a load of Archer's tats if they think Batista's are gay, just sayin'. It was a good match, and Jimmy was right in front of us, so that was cool.
Next was NXT. Whee! I'd really been hoping for a Christian sighting, but it was not to be. First was the tag match with Justin Gabriel and Matt Hardy vs. Darren Young and Punk. I want to mark for Matt Hardy, but turns out I really don't anymore. Their corner was right in front of us, I saw a lot of his back. I do like Gabriel though, so that was cool. Punk cracked me up because he kept examining the tag rope instead of trying to get in the match. Gallows and Serena weren't over by our side, but I watched them a lot too. I felt like the match went on too long, but that's simply because I was waiting for either a Jericho or a Christian...or Bryan Danielson. ^^
Next up was Daniel Bryan vs Khali. I kept my sign up the whole time, Bryan looked over my way and I was sure he saw it but he didn't acknowledge it. I had visions in my head of the time we sat ringside at Staples for SD the other time, and Brian Kendrick acknowledged my Spanky sign. This was an ok match, I'd have loved to have seen Bryan Danielson in a real match, but it was cool to see him so close. And then we got a Big Show (GINORMOUS IN PERSON!) run in.
Turns out Bryan did see my sign, and awesomely, he tweeted @me. Ha! I saw your sign! Fantastic! @hardknox32 @DanielBryanNXT It was great seeing you at NXT last night! http://twitpic.com/1956v4
Christian's music hit and I fangirled! Only to find it was Heath Slater by himself and his opponent was Mr. 1.9 seconds. Ho hum.
And then....Jericho's first appearance of the night! OMG. Of course he went up the steps right in front of where we were sitting. Never glanced our way once, and I purposely didn't take pictures because I just wanted to watch him. During the match he was over by the announce table, not close to us...but I can't wait to watch the show to hear what he was saying.
[I have since watched the show, and when I set up the DVR I didn’t remember to make it a manual recording, so as soon as Jericho was exiting the ring…the recording stopped. WAH! Searched online and found the match…and I just have to say “DO YOUR JOB!!” killed me.]
Next was the Superstars match. Ho hum. I saw them set up Kane's pyro so I knew he was coming out. Then when it was Shelton I was a little more interested. The weird part about the match is that there were some botched spots that they just re-did right there in the ring like they knew they could edit it later. Kane’s top rope totally missed Shelton when he landed, next thing I know he's up there doing it again. That friggin' pyro is LOUD!
We saw a ton of WWE video packages. I didn't watch most of them, but I did watch one that was all the charitable things they do, it was kind of nice. Since SD isn't broadcast live there weren't that many of them during "commercial breaks"....at one point they did the "show us your sign" thing. :) I had a sign that said "I'm the best in the world at what I do" meaning to use it to mock Jericho. You know like if he looked at me with it I'd be pointing at myself saying "No Chris *I* am the best, not you!" LOL! So anyway, the cameraman comes over to me, the camera mere inches from my sign, and then he pushes it down and kinda back against me...so everyone got the idea that it was me, not Jericho who was the best. LOL! The guys behind us (who were kinda cool) told my friend she should have taken a picture of me. So I said "Was that on screen?" Duh Carol, that was the whole idea...:) I *think* there was a pretty big reaction to the sign.
So, the rest of the show.
Rey came out first to tell us stuff about last week. I only half listened. SES came out to challenge him to a match. Because I really only watch SES for the sex aspect of them (IE: they're always all touching each other), and I can take or leave Rey I didn't really pay strict attention to this exchange. Too busy watching the camera people...who are fascinating to watch.
Next was a match to hype the Money in the Bank match. MVP and Hardy vs Swagger and Ziggler. It was an ok match I presume, and I can't really remember who won. During this match I was staring at the back of MVP thinking geez, these guys are really beat up. I felt kind of bad for him in particular. At the end Ziggler got out a big ladder....it didn't bode well for the MITB match because he had trouble getting it out, trouble getting it into the ring, and trouble setting it up. He climbed up and immediately the ref came over and held the ladder.
That's another thing, I didn't see Charles Robinson which made me sad.
Next was the divas match. I don't like Michelle McCool. I do like Layla...and their entrance would have been pretty cool if we'd been on the other side of the ring. I guess this will sound like I'm a catty girl, but Layla has a big rear end....much bigger than the rest of her body. McCool is just a stick figure. In fact it was funny, the rowdy yet cool guys behind us seemed to think Layla's big booty was far more attractive than McCool in general. I wish WWE would get that message, seems like men in general want women with meat on their bones. They also liked Tiffany (and/or Beth). I got some pretty awesome pictures of Beth. I was laughing at these guys behind us because one of them kept saying "David, get pictures, David..PICTURES!" Vickie came out and I unfortunately didn't get any good pictures of her, but she was beautiful. Way smaller in person than she is on screen.
Next...THE CUTTING EDGE! Whee! Edge came out first, and we were treated to his strobe lights forever while they showed a video package. I was hoping there were no epileptics in the audience. Finally....break the walls down!!!!!!!!!!!! GUH!!! He looked every bit as suave as he did the first time and again he did not look my way. More on that later.
At first Wade Barrett was standing behind Jericho with his hands on his hips thus spreading the coat so that I couldn't see Jericho. Also, I have to admit I wasn't really listening to what they said to each other because I was too fascinated watching Chris. When everything broke down I nearly died. I will never get tired of watching Jericho strip out of his clothes like that. *wiggle* My pictures say it all...it was amazing times a million. I am actually stunned the picture of him coming out of the ring (down the stairs right in front of us!!!) turned out so well.
The Hart Dynasty came out next, and I spent their whole ring entrance trying to get Nattie to see my sign. She either didn't see it or didn't care to respond to it, I'm not sure which...but dear lord she's BEAUTIFUL. We thought their match would be vs Cryme Tyme...but it turned out to be John Morrison and R Truth. WHEE! Morrison is so gorgeous in person, and I touched his hand! *dies* Then we got too sing "what's up!!" with Truth. 'Twas all just awesome! Good match too, and again I'm not sure who won but I think it was Truth/Morrison.
Ok...next was the big long Rey vs Gallows segment. My goal during this was to watch Punk and Serena. Fascinating. They are pretty beautiful together...and I've never seen her that worked up. It was so fascinating that I really didn't watch any of the match (aside from that one picture I got...and that's a pretty awesome picture I think). I know Rey won the match, and I know that if Gallows had won there was some kind of promise about Rey joining the SES.
Next, the main event for the show. There was a time when the Undertaker made me weak, so seeing his entrance live...right in front of me...was cool and nostalgic. He moves so slow it was easy to get some decent pictures of him. And Drew....gah! He's so beautiful! It was a short match, which was ok...and then there was the Taker/Michaels thing. I couldn't see any of that in person because I wasn’t near the stage, so I was watching it on the screen...until I turned and saw Drew sprawled on the floor by the ring. OH. MY. GOD. *thud*
Then came the dark main event. I'd heard from someone on Twitter that first of all John Cena would be addressing all the rookies in the ring to start NXT. That didn't happen obviously. She also said there would be this dark main event...and by the time it was going to start I was afraid she was wrong about that too...but SO NOT WRONG!!!! There were 2 things that made this show awesome, well no 3. The DBMM sign getting noticed, the "show us your sign" segment...and this dark main event.
Heels: Jericho, Sheamus, Punk, and Batista vs Faces: Rey, Edge, HHH, and Cena.
Wow.
Jericho came out first. All shiny and oh-so-beautiful in his humongous belt. Then Sheamus, right in front of us. Then Punk with his posse (all still touching each other)...and then Batista. I stopped breathing. Batista was strooooooolllllllliiiiinnnnggg down the ramp. I decided to look back to see if Chris was watching him because you know, inquiring minds want to know. Dear lord. He was watching all right. He was giving Batista the sign, you're not going fast enough. He tapped his wrist like he was wearing a watch. Batista gave him the “I’m flipping you off in my head” look.
Then the faces came out, and aside from snapping that mega-close-up-thudworthy picture of Edge and taking a bit of time to watch HHH I ignored them completely, because I love me some heels. Batista literally paced the floor like a caged animal. I was fascinated.
I have no idea what really happened in the match, but here's what *I* saw. Jericho and Batista standing in their corner (opposite from us so we could see their faces not their asses) talking to each other. Jericho trash talking HHH. Batista manhandling Cena. And the faces won.
After the match was over Jericho parked himself in front of these people he knew, opposite of us. This is when I came to terms with the fact that Jericho doesn't “know” me anymore. Like, if I talked to him he might remember, and if I reminded him he *would* remember...but he's not that person anymore. All those cool "hey you guys" and "I know you" and "How was your Christmas" and XM Radio rants...those were all Jericho away from WWE times. Now I'm just a fan. And truly...I'm ok with that. Like I came to the realization that my "15 minutes" with Chris Jericho is over, but it doesn't change the fact that I had those 15 minutes.
Because the heels lost all of them, with the exception of a chatty-with-friends Jericho slithered off holding their collective heads.
The faces all celebrated, and I pretty much slapped hands with all of them. Edge and Rey for sure...I'm pretty sure HHH and maybe Cena. Rey gave some towel, or shirt, or something to a kid right beside us. That was cool. It was cool touching hands with the faces even though I didn't like any of them.
Oh speaking of which...I also touched hands with R Truth....slippery sweaty oily hand. :O
We got twisted around coming home. There was road construction and lanes opened and closed randomly...and I was DEAD tired because I'd woken up that morning at 4am with an earthquake.
As we were turning on to my street, one block away from my house, my phone rings. It's 11:30 now....my son is calling me. Are you coming home soon? LOL! He actually waited on the porch for me! Talk about role reversal.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Autographs and Work Schedules
Guess what? I work very close to Montebello. It's probably no more than 15 minutes from where I'm sitting right now. In fact, when I read about the Fozzy signing there scheduled for March 15 I thought...I'm so there!
Then I read the fine print. No cameras.
WHAT????
No offense to Chris Jericho, but I don't want his autograph. And I don't need his autograph on Chasing the Grail because I ordered it from Newbury Comics specifically to get an autographed copy. I have so many Chris Jericho autographs that I've lost count, but the one that means the most to me is the one inside A Lion's Tale, because it's a personal autograph that I got as I sat there so speechless I couldn't even babble. It's a heady thing to hear Chris Jericho say, "I know you."
But, one can never have too many pictures, so once I read that no cameras were allowed I had second thoughts on my plan.
Then today I found out they moved the signing to Tuesday. WHY??? Even though Montebello is 15 minutes away, Tuesday is staff meeting day. Ordinarily I'd be getting out of work *at* 3pm, but on Tuesday it's more like 4pm. Let's be realistic. Even though Montebello is pretty much an "armpit" it is L.A. adjacent...the lines would be out the door before I got there.
Don't worry though, the story has a happy ending. That night I go to see SD at the Staples Center.
In ringside seats.
So...pictures galore.
And maybe if I'm lucky, I'll get my "I know you." Although chances are I won't, since Chris is a heel now.
Then I read the fine print. No cameras.
WHAT????
No offense to Chris Jericho, but I don't want his autograph. And I don't need his autograph on Chasing the Grail because I ordered it from Newbury Comics specifically to get an autographed copy. I have so many Chris Jericho autographs that I've lost count, but the one that means the most to me is the one inside A Lion's Tale, because it's a personal autograph that I got as I sat there so speechless I couldn't even babble. It's a heady thing to hear Chris Jericho say, "I know you."
But, one can never have too many pictures, so once I read that no cameras were allowed I had second thoughts on my plan.
Then today I found out they moved the signing to Tuesday. WHY??? Even though Montebello is 15 minutes away, Tuesday is staff meeting day. Ordinarily I'd be getting out of work *at* 3pm, but on Tuesday it's more like 4pm. Let's be realistic. Even though Montebello is pretty much an "armpit" it is L.A. adjacent...the lines would be out the door before I got there.
Don't worry though, the story has a happy ending. That night I go to see SD at the Staples Center.
In ringside seats.
So...pictures galore.
And maybe if I'm lucky, I'll get my "I know you." Although chances are I won't, since Chris is a heel now.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
WATCH ME SHINE!
It has been a really long time since I've fallen completely in love with a CD. There was a time, and I won't date myself by giving a time frame other than to say it used to be records not CDs, when music was my whole entire life. I spent more time obsessing over music and musicians than I did over anything else. I frequently got new music that totally enthralled me. Back in those days I listened with headphones in my room.
Eventually I entered the modern age...ie: cassette tapes in my car. Wow, what an experience that was -- belting out songs at the top of my lungs while the music blasted.
And then I grew up and while I still had music I liked, I had more pressing things to worry about. Like bills, and kids, and all that good stuff that comes along with being an adult.
But now I've bonded once again with a CD (no vinyl this time)...and I can NOT get enough of it. In fact today I passed a threshold I haven't in years....I wailed away with this CD, and I didn't even care that the windows were open and I was at a stoplight.
Chasing the Grail by FOZZY rocks.
I like the whole CD, but it's the song "Watch Me Shine" that is my undoing. It's kind of too bad that Chris Jericho and I don't sing in the same key (although, he actually sings, I wail) because we had a perfect duet going on today. My voice is much better matched to Sully Erna's, I can keep up with him (thank God there's a new Godsmack CD on the horizon). But wrong key or not I am IN LOVE WITH THIS SONG!
And...that's it. Nothing further than the effervescence of wanting to share this incredible experience.
Oh...and if I were so inclined..."God Pounds His Nails" would make me play air-guitar. I even squeezed off one stoplight arm swing. /geek
Eventually I entered the modern age...ie: cassette tapes in my car. Wow, what an experience that was -- belting out songs at the top of my lungs while the music blasted.
And then I grew up and while I still had music I liked, I had more pressing things to worry about. Like bills, and kids, and all that good stuff that comes along with being an adult.
But now I've bonded once again with a CD (no vinyl this time)...and I can NOT get enough of it. In fact today I passed a threshold I haven't in years....I wailed away with this CD, and I didn't even care that the windows were open and I was at a stoplight.
Chasing the Grail by FOZZY rocks.
I like the whole CD, but it's the song "Watch Me Shine" that is my undoing. It's kind of too bad that Chris Jericho and I don't sing in the same key (although, he actually sings, I wail) because we had a perfect duet going on today. My voice is much better matched to Sully Erna's, I can keep up with him (thank God there's a new Godsmack CD on the horizon). But wrong key or not I am IN LOVE WITH THIS SONG!
And...that's it. Nothing further than the effervescence of wanting to share this incredible experience.
Oh...and if I were so inclined..."God Pounds His Nails" would make me play air-guitar. I even squeezed off one stoplight arm swing. /geek
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