Finding Anything Good

I lost my voice, have you noticed? I expect I haven’t quite earned the right for anyone to notice my voice just yet. I’ve been too sporadic for that. For the record though I’m back—rejuvenated. And after a sufficient amount of procrastination behind me I have grand plans to pick up the ball I dropped four months ago, that is to blog more consistently—at least once a month.

I got caught up in the publishing wave, swept away if you will, by the flowing tide of new and interesting reading produced by this ever accelerating age of information. I use the term “new” here loosely, it means new to me. This includes material produced at any time which I was formerly unacquainted with. It includes traditionally published material as well as amazingly helpful blogs, plus all the latest social buzz on Twitter, Facebook and the likes. All that combined, the mountain of characters, words, paragraphs and pages is approaching Everest in sheer magnitude, and in awesomeness.

The thing is there are so many fantastic options to choose from I can't possibly hope to read them all let alone just keep up with the new releases. I’m more likely to summit Everest, which, let’s be honest, ain’t ever gonna happen. Sometimes I feel guilty—like I didn't do my homework—when I find great new stuff that’s more than a year old. And it’s hard not to compare myself to others and end up lacking, especially when I listen to them talk or write from the depth of their knowledge. This is the dilemma I was faced with: information overload. And if I couldn’t keep up why should I expect anyone else to read what I write—I mean seriously who am I? My creative desire to add more to the mountain was crushed under the weight of what’s already out there. My voice was silenced.

Or was it? Looking back I don’t think it was. What happened is that other things were louder and drowned out my voice. How do I know that? Because my desire to write persists. What was lacking was a clear direction, something to write about. As I’ve been mulling over that topic—read into that procrastinating—I’ve been reading and watching some interesting TV shows. I even started reading comic books again. And even though I can’t consume it all—heck I have a pile of cool stuff that will most likely last me till summer—I can easily find something worthwhile, something good.

The thought of finding something good, anything really, amidst the plethora of what is and has been produced is my new focus for the coming year. Each month I will write about something that sticks out to me, anything good. The best part about this plan is that it requires me to look on the bright side, to see cups that are half full. I’m excited to take this challenge.

To start things off I have three good things worth writing about:

Number 1: On November 10, 2011 if you missed the book bomb started by Larry Correia for Rob Wells’ book Variant you missed something truly inspiring. People around the internet banded together to see how high they could push Variant on Amazon’s best sellers list. Variant went from #6068 to #57 in one day, it climbed to #7 in its genre. See Larry Correia’s blog for more details.

I bought a copy of Variant on Nov. 10 and as soon as I received it my wife took it. She read it in less than a week—she loved it. I’m currently reading it and it’s great.

More than the book though I was impressed by how a single person could unite so many people via Twitter, Facebook and blogs. There is amazing power here that can be harnessed for good. Larry’s book bomb is a perfect example of this power.

Number 2: One of the comics I recently started reading is The Walking Dead. I’m not a big zombie fan but I was immediately sucked in. In the introduction to “Volume 1 Days Gone Bye” Robert Kirkham lays out his goal: “With THE WALKING DEAD I want to explore how people deal with extreme situations and how these events CHANGE them.” That sets the tone perfectly for the story. It’s about how people deal with difficult situations in their lives first, and zombies second. It’s that people element that is compelling. The zombie part is good for a little scare here and there.

After I read "Days Gone Bye" I realized that AMC produced a series based on the comics. And much to my dismay it’s already in season 2. How did I miss season 1? Fortunately I caught the entire first half of season 2, which is on a break until February 12, 2012. During the midseason finale (season 2 episode 7 “Pretty Much Dead Already”) there was an amazingly dramatic moment that is so compelling it has been stuck in my mind for weeks. So many things happened at the same time: I was angry, surprised, happy, and sad all at the same time. That scene alone is worth watching all of season 2 so far. In my writing I hope to be able to create such a compelling scene someday.

If you haven’t seen The Walking Dead AMC has a full series marathon scheduled for New Year’s Eve 2011, this Saturday. It includes all of season 1 and season 2 up to this point—this is how I plan to catch up on season 1. I recommend using TiVo and watching them in smaller doses. I like to dilute my zombie watching with something less tense in between episodes, two episodes back to back is about as much as I can stomach in one sitting.

Number 3: I took my daughter to The Muppets at a local movie theater a couple nights ago. She mentioned just after Thanksgiving she wanted to see it. My response at that time was eh, I don’t think so—shame on me. Luckily I read Howard Tayler’s review, and noticed a lot of tweets about how much people liked it, so I decided to give it a chance. I’m so glad I did. There are lots of good movies—good in varying degrees: pretty pictures, fun scenes, good stories, and sometimes stories that impact you and stick with you, and even change you or help you on your journey through life. This movie was funny and nostalgic but it also left me feeling better than I felt when I sat down to watch it. My favorite quote from The Muppets is “It’s easy to believe in other people. Sooner or later you gotta believe in yourself.” What a great message that hit me right at my core. It really is so much easier to believe in others than it is to believe in yourself. Since I decided I was going to write a novel these kinds of messages have been popping up at the most fortuitous moments. Maybe the messages are always there and it’s up to me to notice them. Or maybe I’m just looking for something to spur me on. I could probably find negative messages too—resistance—if I focused on looking for them. But even if both positive and negative messages are out there why not focus on the positive ones? I need all the help I can get. The negative messages—the resistance—is no help at all.

That’s it for my preview of Anything Good that comes along, now and into the next year.

So, from here on out I refuse to feel guilty about my past omissions and will partake of the veritable smorgasbord of reading/viewing material as best I can. Hopefully I'll choose from the most delectable options because I'll be over-stuffed long before the content runs out. And maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to add my own dish to the buffet, contributing something someone else will find enjoyable. But if not the journey will add savor and spice to my literary and media life experiences just as well.

Why not me? Gaining confidence

I started coaching when my oldest son was five-years-old. Since then, sports have been an integral part of our lives for close to seventeen years. One theme that has cropped up time and time again is the importance of confidence. You have to believe in yourself to be successful, in sports, or any endeavor for that matter.

Ironically I have a quirk that sabotages me when I talk about my writing. I decided to write about it in hopes of exercising a few demons of doubt. When I told my wife about this plan she reminded me of that coaching advice I’d been giving to my kids. So now, my own words are coming back to haunt me. It’s time to practice what I’ve been preaching all these years.

First let’s get things out in the open, demons hate being out in the open. Here it is: whenever I tell someone about my writing I am compelled to begin by pointing out my inadequacies, my inexperience. It’s happened every time I’ve attended any type of writing event where I’m required to talk about what I’m writing – several times this year already. I've been thinking about why I do this. Maybe it’s because I’ve read so many excellent books that I can’t imagine ever being that good. Maybe it’s because I’m afraid of being criticized, something I know is unavoidable when you publish your story for the world to read. Maybe I’m afraid that my story will be bad, and due to guilt by association, that will imply I’m bad too. Or, maybe I’m just plain comfortable living out my life in relative obscurity. I really don’t know the answer.

I do know the problem has something to do with confidence. So, given the absence of confidence, how does one go about getting some? I think the first step is to recognize what’s going on. In my case it became more obvious the more I did it. Every time I introduced my writing by saying I’m sorry, my stuff is crap, people responded so kindly. I started to feel almost embarrassed, like I was fishing for compliments. But I couldn’t stop myself.

That’s exactly why the next step is so hard because it involves actually changing. As soon as you recognize your lack of confidence you simply must stop, change your attitude, and at the very least act confident, even if you don’t feel confident. You see, the most difficult person to persuade is yourself. As long as you’re not obnoxious about it, everyone else usually just buys it.

A couple of weeks ago I watched the movie Limitless, definitely worth seeing. The main character takes an experimental drug that increases his brain capacity and all of a sudden he goes from zero to hero. As he mused about his new found capacity to recall even minor details about things he learned back in college I couldn’t help thinking how much more confident I am about things I’ve already learned, at least the ones I can still remember. The guy in Limitless was more confident because he remembered everything he’d ever experienced. Even if we can’t remember everything it makes sense to read and write as much as possible – probably the most common advice given to aspiring writers.

And even though I don’t have infinite brain capacity, and I know I can’t be great at everything, I really do enjoy learning new things. My family always jokes that I have a lot of hobbies. In fact I do, a byproduct of the desire to try and learn new things. Trying new things gives me confidence to try other new things. As I’ve tried new things I’ve found that if I act nervous I’m not as successful. If I act confident I am more successful. The more you act confident, the easier it becomes.

It’s very much like the cowardly lion in The Wizard of Oz, he had courage in himself the whole time. He just didn’t recognize it. Confidence is basically faith in one’s self. Confidence we can achieve, faith that we can achieve, will help motivate us when the desire to give up creeps into the corners of our minds.

Last weekend I joined a writing critique group. We met on Saturday, in person, to iron out the details about how we each wanted the group to function. I was apprehensive at first, and yes, this was one of those occasions where I started by listing my limitations. But I ended up so impressed by the personalities in the group, from a fourteen-year-old freshman in high school to others who are working on multiple manuscripts. What made me the most optimistic though was everyone’s desire to help each other.

On the way out to the parking lot after our meeting, I was talking with a member of our group. We discussed the impressive array of talented writers who live in and around Utah Valley, the area where we all live. She made the comparison to Shakespeare, how he created an environment of excitement that enabled more than him to be successful. With so many great authors nearby it seems possible that we can be successful too. Why not?

Another way to gain confidence is to surround yourself with people who encourage you to keep trying.

I understand writing is hard work, but, this week at least, I believe if I do the work I can be successful. And someday, maybe, I can join the ranks of the published. I know that’s not an end, but right now, that’s what I’m shooting for.

Why not me?

My new goal: when I tell people about my writing, do it with confidence, hopefully not boring them to tears at the same time.

Next time you’re tempted to say I can’t do something, stop yourself and say, Why not me?

And if you ever hear me blatantly trashing my own stuff, please, slap some sense into me.

New Perspective: Happy Anniversary

This blog is a like one of those pictures that contain hidden 3d images. If you don’t catch the meaning after reading it once try staring at it with your eyes crossed and the meaning will pop right out of the screen. And if that works for you please post what it means in the comments section because I’m dying to know.

Rules, laws, structure, goals, plans they’re all important. But life is too short to freak out when everything doesn’t go exactly as planned.

Case in point: two weeks ago my wife and I celebrated our 23^rd wedding anniversary. We woke up thinking we were going to see Kenny Chesney in concert (don’t be a hater ‘cause I said that, my wife really likes Kenny, enough said). Earlier in the week my wife’s cousin said he’d hook us up with some tickets, good tickets. He has a connection to the band. The plan was to meet up with him on the day of the concert. He’d done it before so we had no reason to believe it wouldn’t happen again. But when my wife tried contacting him in the morning he never responded. We started doubting in the afternoon, approaching the time we’d have to leave in order to eat an early dinner and still have time to make it to the concert. At do or die time, even though we still had our doubts, we decided to take a leap of faith, drive up to SLC and have a nice dinner, hoping we’d hear from her cousin in time to make the concert. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory. It was delicious. If you ever go there be sure to try the Avocado Eggrolls appetizer; if you like avocadoes you’ll love ‘em.

When we sat down at our table we still had time to make it to the concert. We hoped we would. But our minds were busy coming up with alternative plans in case the Kenny concert fell through. These new plans ranged from simply driving back home (not the most appealing option since it was still our anniversary), to finding another concert. It turns out that Chris Isaak and Blues Traveler or Howard Jones were playing that night at different venues. So, at least we had options.

We paid our check at the Cheesecake Factory 10 minutes after the Kenny concert was scheduled to start. Plan A was officially out of the running. I’ll be honest we were disappointed. At a time like this I can imagine some people might freak out, or they might try to assign blame. Oddly enough we did neither. Our disappointment quickly changed into which plan B should we try? This was turning into an adventure.

We drove to the Sandy Amphitheater where Howard Jones was scheduled to play. I felt a little foolish going, because I’m usually a stick-to-the-plan kind of a guy. I don’t like surprises. But hey, it was my anniversary.

The first thing we noticed at the ticket booth was the big sign GA seating sold out. I almost turned around right then. But instead we had to ask “What, if anything do you have left?” Thirty minutes prior to the scheduled start of the concert I didn’t think they’d have much. At first the guy inside the ticket booth said “Sorry, I don’t have any seats left together. You can buy two singles if you like.” I looked at my wife. Luckily before we were able to respond someone else inside the booth said “I have two seats together.” The guy helping us turned around surprised. “Just a sec.” He said.

When he came back he said, “I have two seats on row L right here.” He pointed to a print out of the seating configuration. I looked at it for a second, and having never been there before I couldn’t make heads nor tails of where those seats actually were. But hey, they were together. My wife asked “How much?” Then casually turned to me and asked “So, is that what you want to do?” For those of you who don’t know my wife that’s code for “I don’t care how much the tickets are, or where the seats are, it’s my anniversary and we’re running out of options. So, get out the credit card buster.” I won’t bother you with the trivial thoughts running through my mind at that time, let’s just say I did the right thing and whipped out my card.

We walked through the front gate looking for any clues as to where row L was. We must have looked lost because one of the event staff offered to help us. She led us to the seats and that’s when our anniversary adventure changed from this might turn out alright, to hey, this is going to be better than a free Kenny Chesney concert. It turns out row L is the first row of the upper reserved seating area. The lower area could be full of screaming 40-somethings standing and dancing during each song and I would still be able to blissfully enjoy HoJo unobstructed and straight on from a seated position. These seats were so sweet I almost felt guilty missing Kenny Chesney (because my wife really likes Kenny). Note that I said almost.

It turns out there were a few still-crazy-standing-and-dancing concert goers in the lower section, but not as many as there used to be. I guess a lot of us have grown into mellow-easliy-tired-I-prefer-sitting-and-listening concert goers.

The concert was fantastic. Howard Jones performed every song on both Human’s Lib and Dream into Action. Howard described it as an experiment. He sounded very much like he did on the records and tapes I used to have. I liked his conversation between songs almost as much as the songs themselves. For example, before he started the song Human’s Lib he read the first few lines of the lyrics and said, “This isn’t a template for how one should live their life. It’s just a bit of fun to sing it.” During the breaks between the songs he laughed a lot and didn’t take himself too seriously. He genuinely looked like he was having fun. That made me have more fun too.

Still in adventure mode after the concert we decided not to go home. We called our kids to let them know. Then we drove around looking for a hotel. Lest you think we’re horrible, neglectful parents I’ll point out that we prepped our oldest that we might not be coming home. See, if we told them outright, before we left, who knows what would have happened in our absence. As it was a couple of them didn’t know we were gone till the next morning, and they behaved exactly as if we were there.

We had such a fun time, talking about our adventure and eating cheesecake; and gaining some much needed perspective. Sometimes small and simple things turn into something great. And sometimes unplanned trips turn out to be better than the planned ones.

I’ve been a planner and a goal setter for most of my life. And for the most part it’s worked out great. But one thing that’s been hard to learn is that even though I make plans and set goals I don’t have as much control as I think I do. And the more people I care deeply about the less control I have. You see, we give up control when we invite others into our lives – and especially when we have children. We can’t force others to do what we think is right. We shouldn’t even try. But sometimes I get upset when other people’s lives take a turn for the worse which I think I could have helped them avoid, if they’d only just listen.

Part of the perspective we gained was about our family. A few months prior to our anniversary we had bit of family trauma, a bitter pill if you will, something that is too personal to go into in such a public place as my blog. Sometimes life wraps its arms around you so tightly it hurts. It's smothering. And sometimes when that happens I feel like giving up, on everything. Suffice it to say that by the time our anniversary rolled around we had been more down than up for quite a while.

You know the sayings you can’t see the forest for the trees and familiarity breeds contempt? Well, because of our bitter pills I think those two statements approximated my wife’s and my own feelings for longer than they should have. We were so caught up in and distracted by our bitter pills that we allowed ourselves to get completely wrapped up in any problem du jour hoping the bigger stuff would just go away. Because of all that we lost sight of the bigger picture: we have a healthy, happy family. And really, what more do we need?

Like I said before, life is too short to freak out when everything doesn’t go exactly as planned. Sometimes it’s the unplanned events that give us the perspective we need to recognize what’s really valuable, what’s really good, what’s truly important in our lives. In the end it’s the people that matter, everything else is just a story. So why not give it a positive spin. I know it can be hard, but recognizing unplanned events as adventures instead of just problems, is the first step in creating the positive spin. I’m not sure we’re completely over our bitter pills just yet, but our anniversary was a definite turning point.

The Final Day – Saturday (day 6)

Five fun filled days behind us we weren’t in a hurry to do anything. Plus, we figured why rush over to the weekend crowds in an amusement park when you can saunter over fashionably late. Instead we slept late and went to the Florida Mall, because no one goes to the mall on Saturday, right? Ok, it wasn’t all that bad, just not my first choice. I found a comic book store I wanted to check out, but the mall received more votes (2-1). We ate lunch there, and walked around the whole place. And you know what I think? A mall is a mall, no matter what state you’re in.

Somehow we had the incorrect notion that parking at Universal Studios was half price after 3:00 pm. We arrived at exactly 3:02 and paid full price. Doh! I think we caught the shopping bug at the mall because once we were inside Islands of Adventure we just had to find something for our boys left back at home. We started at Filch's because they had a big variety. Unfortunately they didn’t have exactly what we were looking for so, we went on the Forbidden Journey; the line was too short to pass up. We bounced over to Dervish and Banges and found exactly what we were looking for. Three of the four boys wanted Hogwarts house t-shirts, 2 - Gryffindor and 1 - Slytherin; every family has at least one black sheep. The other son is a basketball nut so we found him a t-shirt at the NBA store on the way out. Done shopping we mostly followed our daily ride routine: a couple of goes on the Dragon Challenge, a couple of butterbeers at the Hog’s Head, and one last visit to Hogwarts castle. We had a bag from shopping so we had to get a locker before riding. It’s free, just takes time. The lockers are pretty high tech, you use a fingerprint to lock and unlock them. We enjoyed our last Forbidden Journey almost as much as the first.

Time was ticking down so we had to rush a bit in order to make it on the Hulk and Spider-Man, but we did it, just barely. We couldn’t resist buying a set of drinking cups from each Hogwarts house and a Gryffindor baseball cap when we walked out through the shops near the entrance. I don’t think they ever close. I swear there must have been charms placed on those shops, some combination of Alohamora the unlocking charm to loosen my wallet and the Confundus Charm which everyone knows causes a person to lose all semblance of common sense. It’s the only way I can explain my behavior.

That was the end of our magical journey. We made so many memories. It was fun to visit all these different places and have such a variety of experiences. But most of all it was fun to be together with my wife and daughter.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

We loved hanging around in Hogsmeade: the shops, the scenery, the atmosphere, the butterbeer, the souvenirs. All the little details were impressive. I couldn't help wondering what it would be like to be the author of such a beloved story; my emotions were way past petty jealousy or envy, more into awe like this kind of thing only comes along once in a lifetime. Everywhere we went conversations buzzed about Harry Potter. It was out of this world to see it come to life in such a way. If I were JK Rowling I couldn’t be more pleased. Well done Ms Rowling!

During our trip, nearly every place we went, we noticed an abundance of people with British accents – it must have been a holiday or something like it. We never got tired of hearing them speak. My daughter was funny, she tried so hard to speak with a British accent. At first she was calling my wife mate, then she switched to mum. This gave me an idea for our next trip – we should visit England so my daughter can learn to speak properly. Here’s to looking forward.

Last time I visited Islands of Adventure I came home with a few comic books. This time I didn’t come home with any. The kid working in the comic book shop wasn’t very talkative, and you know I’m not. My biggest problem selecting comics is deciding where to start. If you have any recommendations for good comic books I’d like to hear them. I have a couple of Spider-Man volumes and enjoyed them a lot. I was wondering about Thor. Also, I’m a fan of X-Men and Batman, but there are so many storylines to choose from. Help. Any other suggestions?

Back to Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure (park hopping) – Friday (day 5)

Friday arrived earlier than we wanted; so we taught it a lesson and went back to bed. We’d already been to each of the parks on our agenda and still had days on our Universal Studios passes, so we planned to park hop, hitting just the highlights. The mornings at Universal Studios felt less crowded and we definitely wanted to end at Islands of Adventure. So…

We made it to Universal Studios by 11:30 am, that’s still morning, right? We headed straight to Rockit. Our wait was around 30 minutes, plenty of time to catch all the instructions more than once. This time I chose “Hella Good” by No Doubt while my daughter went with “That’s the Way (I Like It)” by KC and the Sunshine Band, my wife decided not to rock it. I’m not sure why but when the music started I heard more of KC than I did of Gwen Stefani.

Since we hadn’t seen Twister yet we went there next. It was ok, but like Jaws, my daughter wasn’t really attached to that one. After that we hit the Mummy, MIB till my daughter beat her high score, then the Simpsons where we laughed some more. We finished where we started with one more trip on Rockit. I went back to ZZ Top, my daughter went with MC Hammer. After we came home I found out you can unlock hidden songs on Rockit, if you know how. Wish I had known that when we were there.

We park hopped over to Islands of Adventure with lots of time left in the day. In fact, way too much time. Remember that deal I made on Tuesday in order to avoid getting wet? Well, it was time to make good. Like it or not I was going to get wet. And I was mentally prepared for that. But the wait, I wasn’t mentally prepared for that. When we got there the projected wait time was 75 minutes, down from 90 minutes the other day – my daughter remembered that much. My wife tried to persuade, then badger, and in desperation she almost made an executive decision to skip it because of the wait time, the most we’d waited for anything else on this trip was 30 minutes; not counting Manta when it broke down on us. But, alas, my honor was at stake. I had promised and I couldn’t go back on it. I tried to make the best of it. C’mon, it’ll be fun, I said, not even convincing myself. My wife just glared at me. The line at first was a little deceiving, we walked through what felt like a mile of waitomazium before we caught up with the rest of the sheep. I even let myself think that the projected wait time was incorrect. Idiot! We were outside at first, but they had nice fans strategically positioned and some shady spots. Plus they were playing peppy music. I never realized then that I had it so good.

Five minutes passed, then ten, actually the first half hour wasn’t too bad, did I tell you they were playing peppy music? It was about the time we went inside the building that time slowed down. We seemed to go fifteen minutes at a time without moving an inch. It was hotter inside than outside, and it was stuffy, oh man was it stuffy inside there. And did I mention the peppy music? Well they were still playing it, the same peppy music. I consider myself a reasonably patient man, but by the time we stepped into our log if you told me I had to wait five more minutes I would have gone all Anakin right there on the spot (for my wife: that means I would have turned to the dark side, honey). Years later, wrapped in a straitjacket sitting in a padded cell I’m confident I’d be able to remember that peppy, haunting, music. Harry Potter had Voldemort, Spider-Man had Doc Ock and the Green Goblin, the Fantastic Four had Dr. Doom, and I have Dudley Do-Rights Ripsaw Falls.

I’d like to say the log ride part was fun. I guess I wasn’t in the right state of mind to truly appreciate it though. My daughter on the other hand, she liked it. Mission accomplished. This time it was my wife and I moping out of Toon Lagoon – I mean dripping out of Toon Lagoon. We looked up at the Pteranodon Flyers and thought, “That would be a great way to dry out, up high in the wind.” But the line was too long. Instead we explored Camp Jurassic. We climbed up rocks and nets, slid down slides, and even walked across a rope line over a bubbling pool in a misty cavern.

We could have spent more time in Camp Jurassic, but we got hungry. Being so near Hogsmeade the Three Broomsticks is all we could think about. Luckily the line was short and in no time we were feasting on Fish n Chips, Rotisserie Smoked Chicken, and Chargrilled Ribs, with butterbeer to wash it all down. I told you we were hungry. The prices on food in the Three Broomsticks aren’t discount level, but the food was top notch. This was hands down the most enjoyable meal of our trip.

Fully satisfied we had nothing else to do but visit Hogwarts castle, like a moth to a flame. I had a nagging desire for another Harry Potter souvenir: a Deathly Hallows necklace, like the one Xenophilius Lovegood wore. So it was win win to ride the Forbidden Journey again. The ride was good again, and I was equally happy to end up in Filch's Emporium of Confiscated Goods. I searched meticulously for anything resembling the Deathly Hallows symbol, but came up empty handed. My wife asked a witch who worked there, because I’m a man and I don’t ask questions like that, if they had any Deathly Hallows merchandise. The nice witch said to try over at Dervish and Banges. Thankful for a wife who’s willing to ask questions I’m unwilling to ask, our next stop was Dervish and Banges, of course. I entered the shop on a mission: locate a triangle with a circle inside it, and with a line running through the circle. Once again I searched meticulously and once again I came up empty handed: 0-2. This time my daughter came to my rescue, like mother like daughter – she’s well on her way to being a perfect wife. Anyway, my daughter found out that the really cool stuff is in the back room at Dervish and Banges on a shelf behind the cash register – a good tip for anyone else like me unwilling to ask. They had a Time Turner necklace, a Horcrux ring, a prophecy crystal ball, and oh yes, a Deathly Hallows necklace. The boys at home were asking for one too, but the price was too steep to get more than one, sorry boys. It was around $50 and came with a triangular display case. The circle does rotate around the line, in case you were wondering. I couldn’t have settled for anything less.

Another mission accomplished, thanks to my wife and daughter. But in my defense they really hid the Deathly Hallows necklace in that store very well – probably because they were afraid the Death Eaters would find it. After the shopping detour we picked back up on our ride routine, next stop was the Dragon Challenge. Since we weren’t sure what we were going to do on our final day we went on Dragon Challenge several times, enough to fill up our memories, just in case we didn’t make it back.

Once we’d had our fill we left Hogsmeade, possibly for the last time. We always walked through the Lost Continent, and I always felt bad we didn’t spend more time there. They had some really interesting buildings and cool shops with appealing souvenirs, but they weren’t Harry Potter appealing. It must be tough being right next to the most popular place in the park. We tried to see Poseidon’s Fury on a different day, but it was experiencing technical difficulties. This time we were in luck, it was operational. The actor/park worker who lead our “tour” was pretty good, but there were a so many people in our group it was hard to see, especially for my diminutive daughter. It was fun nonetheless, for sure worth going on once.

The last leg of our routine was always Hulk, then Spider-Man. My daughter loved running ahead to be the first to spot the projected wait time – it was 5 minutes. I remember because she was so excited about it; single digit wait times are always exciting no matter what the ride. Riding on the Hulk I learned how to keep my head from banging against the restraints; I had to, my daughter loved that ride. The secret is to push your head forward so it’s outside the restraints, and forcing your shoulders up against the restraints helps keep you from moving around so much. It mostly worked. Ending on Spider-Man was much more relaxing. I never get tired of the 3-D in that one, especially when Spidey stands on the front of the Scoop.

We left that day feeling like we’d done everything we wanted to do; and with tired feet.

Next: The Last Day

Seaworld – Thursday (day 4)

We decided to switch gears and go to Seaworld. But we couldn’t drag ourselves out of bed early, three fun filled days started to add up. We weren’t that late though, we pulled into the Seaworld parking lot a half hour after the park opened.

Disclaimer: we really like Seaworld. In fact, for spring break earlier this year we drove the whole family to San Diego and went to Seaworld there. We still chant Shamu, Shamu, while making the sign of the whale’s tail and I believe. But because of this we weren’t dying to see all of the shows at Seaworld, Orlando, we just didn’t have the energy. So we focused on the rides and a few favorite exhibits: Penguin Encounter, Shark Encounter, sea turtles, and Wild Arctic – I take every chance I get to see a walrus in real life.

The only big ride at Seaworld, San Diego was Journey to Atlantis. Shipwreck Rapids is good, I just wouldn’t classify it as big, it’s not scary good, it’s only wet good, for those who like to get wet. The big rides at Seaworld, Orlando include Journey to Atlantis (not exactly the same as San Diego’s version), Kraken, and Manta. The exhibits, shows, and wildlife in San Diego are every bit as good as the ones in Orlando, some were better. There were a lot more sea turtles at the exhibit in San Diego, and a lot more beluga whales to name a few.

This is sounding a little negative, but remember this: Seaworld wasn’t our main focus, it was a bonus because of Discovery Cove. And that’s how I’ll remember it as a nice bonus that added a little variety in between our hard trudging days at Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios.

My wife may not think it was a bonus, but that had more to do with my daughter and I than Seaworld itself. In the spirit of full disclosure here’s what not to do, from my own personal experience. Hopefully you’ll be wiser because of it. I call it: “How to Torture Your Spouse.”

How to Torture Your Spouse

Step 1 – first thing in the morning, right after breakfast, take her on a ride that not only loops several times, but the riding position is leaning forward like you’re riding a crotch rocket motorcycle. So right off the bat you’re just dangling there on your stomach. And just before the first loop you twist onto your back in preparation for the first loop. This means you enter the loop head first, on your back, up-side-down.

Step 2 – after walking around a crowded amusement park for a couple of hours, ask your spouse to save you a place at the Seaport Theater 45 minutes prior to the next show. Be sure to emphasize you want good seats, right up front in the middle. While your spouse saves those good seats, you and your daughter go back and ride that ride again. It's ok though because you promise that if the projected wait time is more than 30 minutes you'll return without riding the ride so your spouse doesn’t have to endure telling everyone else at the show that you’re on your way. But… despite your best intentions, and a projected wait time of 15 minutes, you arrive back at the Seaport Theater 10 minutes after “Pets Ahoy!” begins, extremely lucky to even be allowed inside the doors once the show has started.

Step 3 – after a long day of walking, sitting, and walking some more, fighting crowds, baking in the sun, paying $5 for a carton of raw fish to feed the sea lions, $6 for a cup of Dippin Dots, $10 to paddle around for twenty minutes in a two-seater flamingo (while your spouse saves good seats in the Nautilus Theater for “A’Lure… The Call of the Ocean”) and paying $31 for a small stuffed dolphin and a medium sized stuffed penguin, completely exhausted on the way out of the park you pass that ride again and ask your spouse if she'll wait the projected 35 minutes, holding all the stuff you accumulated throughout the day, while you and you daughter ride that ride one last time.

My wife is awesome, durable, patient, and selfless -- heck, she can even endure torture. Journey to Atlantis is fun, it has an interesting theme. The Kraken is fast, exciting, and inverts 7 times in loops and twists. But the Manta is a completely new experience – it is the ride.

The Manta was such a unique ride, at least for us, that we ranked it our #2 favorite ride overall. We were glad we went to Seaworld because of it.

Next: Day 5

Universal Studios – Wednesday (day 3)

We woke up still riding the wand high from the day before. We were again excited to get an early start. Universal Studios is very different than Islands of Adventure, there are exciting rides, but a lot more movie-ish attractions too.

From the park entrance we ran to the Rockit rollercoaster. The line was short enough that we missed most of the instruction by the super cool animated teenagers. Not a huge deal, but when I sat down in my seat, pulled down the lap bar, and stared at the music selection touch screen I was unprepared to make my decision. I didn’t love any of the genres, so being pressed for time I took a shot on Classic Rock/Metal hoping I could find something I liked. I chose “Gimme All Your Lovin’” by ZZ Top. It was an enjoyable addition to my ride. My wife thoroughly enjoyed her selection of “Livin in Fast Forward” by Kenny Chesney; she’s a country girl at heart. The best part of Rockit is the beginning where you blastoff facing straight up through rings that remind you of a real rocket launch pad. And what goes up must come down, and Rockit does come down in a rush towards exciting twists, turns and loops. The second best part of Rockit is watching videos of yourself, and people around you, once you get off the ride. Our facial expressions were hilarious. Rockit was a solid lock in our top five favorite rides overall.

We picked a good day to visit Universal Studios because it didn’t feel like there were very many people in the park at all, completely different from the day before at Islands of Adventure. Our next target was the Revenge of the Mummy. It was close by and I knew my daughter would like it. Unfortunately they were having some mechanical problems with the ride so we couldn’t ride at that time. Walking away from the Mummy we were approached by a man working in the park – watch out they like to do a lot of surveys. Because we didn’t really have a destination at that moment we fell for his trap to screen a new television program. After answering more questions than you can shake a stick at (right now I’m visualizing Howie Mandel shaking a stick while the guy is asking us questions, and before the guy is done Howie gets tired and stops) we were plunked down in front of a monitor placing headphones on our heads. More questions on the computer before the actual screening took place, then finally we watched a new show called “Love in the Wild.” I’m embarrassed to admit that I kind of liked the show, but I blame my wife because she makes me watch a lot of other shows like it. Love in the Wild is a cross between the Bachelor and Survivor – it was funny watching how the couples handled the jungles of Costa Rica. After more than an hour, and more questions on the computer after the show, we were done. They paid my wife and me $15 for our effort. But I regret taking so much of my daughter’s time this way. She was stuck in there for an hour watching “Deal or No Deal,” the park outside beckoning to her. If they could have hooked her up with Nickelodeon she’d have been much happier. My recommendation when approached by a park worker at Universal Studios is to ask them how long whatever they want you to do will take, and if you don’t want to use your time that way, politely say “No thank you.” Word!

There was some good news, by the time we were done with the screening the Mummy was up and running. Plus, the line was super short. My daughter was a little scared walking into it, the line has some scary images along the way. But, hey, it’s the Mummy right – it’s not Little Red Riding Hood. My daughter’s comment when we got off the ride, “Worth it.” We hit the Mummy several more times during our week on vacation. The Mummy was our favorite place to warm up after getting soaked by rain – there’s a spot on the ride where the entire ceiling is on fire.

We walked through New York towards San Francisco/Amity. On the way we decided to try the Disaster experience. It’s not really a ride, it’s one of those movie-ish things I was talking about. The best part about Disaster was the extremely enthusiastic girl leading our experience. I really wanted my daughter to volunteer to participate, but for some reason she was timid that day. The attraction takes at least 20 minutes, so even though we were at the front of the line it didn’t move very fast. I think my daughter enjoyed it, especially the movie at the end which included some audience volunteers, and us as extras. It’s worth trying at least once.

When we found the Jaws attraction in Amity it had started to rain. We worried they’d stop the ride, but instead they kept announcing “You will get wet, if this is not in your best interest” get the heck out of the line, or something similar to that. I remember when Jaws came out in movie theaters when I was a kid. I had read the book and I was excited to be scared – that movie didn’t disappoint. So, I enjoyed the ride more than my daughter who didn’t have the same attachment to Jaws that I did. She didn’t hate the ride, she just didn’t love it either. I don’t think she’s even seen the movie.

We ran between rides to avoid getting soaked. MIB (Men in Black) was a great place to be while it was raining outside. This is a fun and competitive ride. You get to shoot aliens during while you ride. And if Will Smith says you’re not so good at the end, well then, you need to ride it again until he proclaims you the best agents. So we did.

When the rain let up a little we went over to The Simpsons Ride. The Simpson’s is one of my guilty pleasures. My daughter and I laughed through the videos played while waiting in line, especially the ones right before you get on the ride. And we laughed through the entire ride. It was definitely the ride we quoted lines from most often, “I’m not changing that diaper,” was one of our favorites spoken by Homer when Maggie grows fifty feet tall after being exposed to radiation. It’s much funnier there than my description here, trust me. There is a full sized Kwik-E-Mart right outside the ride, one of the more unique gift shops.

We ate lunch at the International Food and Film Festival restaurant mainly because it had a nice variety of options. Once again it was expensive but mostly good food. Our afternoon was spent on/in ET, the Terminator, Animal Actors on Location, Shrek 4-D, and Beetlejuice’s Graveyard Revue, then repeats of the Mummy and MIB. We wanted to ride Rockit again but it was closed, I assume because of the rain. Of the things we did in the afternoon I enjoyed Shrek, the Mummy and MIB the most. The others were good though.

There were other movie-ish things we could have done, but by the end of the day we started dragging. I think the biggest reason was the rain. We had to run through a downpour from the Terminator to get to the Animal Actors on Location and our shoes got soaked in the process. When we found out Rockit was not going to be operational for the rest of the day, and we were within an hour of Universal Studios closing, we park hopped over to Islands of Adventure. It stays open an hour later so we had enough time to ride the Forbidden Journey and the Dragon Challenge – the lines were perfectly short then too.

Next: Day 4