It All Comes to an End

Every Christmas when I was in show choir in high school, are group would go from house to house to the parents of each singer. We would sing Christmas chorals then jump into the car and go to the next house. Through the night there would be three houses where the parents would feed us. One house would be appetizers the second house dinner and the last house would have desserts and then our chorus group would exchange gifts to our dancing partners. It was a good time every year. Yeah, this week in Long Island was nothing like that…

Except that we would all go to one high school set up our tables, reel in prospective high school students for an hour, tear down and drive to the next school. Instead of a three-course meal we had a choice between un-toasted bagels, donuts, coffee and tea. I may be a snob but I can’t eat un-toasted bagels and only have one-maybe two donuts before I get a sugar high. Now I’m not a coffee snob per say, but I will drink bad coffee all day so to mix sugar donuts with 10 cups of coffee is a deadly mix. On top of that, one school would have me listed but another school would not, which means more work and more lugging equipment around. Usually I was listed so it wasn’t too bad. At one school I would not have any students come up to me and yet another I would be the belle of the ball.

Every morning I would drive to the school early, hoping to get a jump-start on traffic. Then I would get lost finding the school. Long Island roads like Dallas is set up where the highway is in the middle and the one way streets on either side of the highway which makes it extremely difficult if you miss one turn. Of course if you’re a local it doesn’t really matter but for us visitors you cannot navigate through the town effectively. So after asking myself why a hundred times I just came to annoyingly deal with it, which all of us have to do on a daily basis.

Most of the schools the tables were set up alphabetically which means I would be sitting next to the same people over and over. Luckily I was sitting next to so awesome ladies. Kim, Mary and Emily were my neighbors. Most of the reps at these fairs know each other. Their territory is NY/Long Island so they all see each other constantly. Sometimes it’s a hard niche to break into but these ladies welcomed me, which I strongly appreciated, or perhaps they didn’t really have a choice. Kim was reading a book called the Plain Truth and I was hoping she would finish it by the end of the week. She kept giving me daily updates and now I have no idea how it ends. Emily and I would evaluate each fair. From the lighting to the students to our exhausting drives. Mary works for a college where my favorite college rep works for, so we had her to talk about. Like I mentioned before, college reps are all in the same boat. It’s actually kind of nice to be able to swap stories of our adventures, gossip about schools and know that I’m not the only one getting lost in the morning. The reps are my comfort food on these trips. Being able to look across the room at a rep and they look back at you with that same expression that says a thousand words means a lot.

Storms rolled in, winds were heavy and the sky was dark. Days where your body wants to shut down and lay in bed all day. It made me feel sick and exhausted. I couldn’t complete my scavenger hunt for that reason. Besides the fairies to the Fire Islands had shut down and thought of driving another hour to Mautack was not really something my body could take. Instead I opted to rest in my hotel and check out a couple of movies at a near by theater.

On my last and final day of this 25-day adventure was nothing but bitter sweet and routine. I woke up early. Checked out of my hotel. Packed my car and drove to the school in the rain. I was the first rep to arrive at the college fair entering a dark gymnasium and set up my display. I sat and read the newspaper until the others arrived. I sat and chatted with Emily for a while until the students arrived. An hour later we packed up and drove 22 minutes to Amityville High School and set up. Amityville from what I saw was a beautiful little Long Island town. Yet the high school was terribly scary. It looked more like an old prison rather than a school. Although, I have to admit I did very well there. At the coffee table where I refreshed my travel mug and tried to decide what sugar rush of a donut I needed I met Jolene. We talked briefly and then she mentioned the Amityville house. I told her about my scavenger hunt and she added that the house was actually just around the block. She had planned to go see it, but no one wanted to go with her. I accepted graciously to at least get one checked off my list in Long Island.

After tear down and good-byes to people I’m sure I’ll never see again, I contacted Brit to make sure we had the right address. Jolene doing some searching herself since I told her the address had changed to prevent people like us from annoying the current owner, we found the address. I followed her to the house on Ocean Avenue and there it was. It was nothing like the movie. I had looked it up on the Internet before I left for this trip and know that the owners redecorated it. The half moon windows are now square and the front chimney is now all but disappeared. Yet if you look across the street, the house there looks exactly like the movie which means a lot of these houses did look like the one from the movie some time ago. Jolene and I parked on the side of the street and took our pictures. We decided to walk around the neighborhood and ended up on the canal looking out at the water. It was nice to actually share a moment with someone and talk about what we just saw and about other random things. I appreciated her company.

I drove for the next half hour into NY. I dropped off the white lion at Enterprise and took the van to the air train. I lugged all my stuff onto the train and got off at terminal 3. Down elevators, across streets and up ramps and around buildings sweating profusely with bags in tow I finally check in. With four hours to kill I decided to go through security and have lunch. I sat at a bar looked over the very unappealing menu ordered a 3-dollar glass of coke and sat. My computer’s battery was dead and really nothing to do. After drinking my coca cola that cost more than two 2 liters I walked around the airport finding another restaurant. After finally weighing my not so many options sat down at a place. I had a 10-dollar sandwich the size of my fist and over cooked French fries that were actually better than the sandwich. I found a plug and this computer center place and tried the Internet but got nothing. So I decided to go back to my gate sit relax and watch CNN.

Finally we board. Now I noticed the girl in front of me had seat 14F. I had 13F and thought for a sec, she’s sitting behind me. We get on the plane and me and another fellow help the girl put her suitcase on the overhead bin. Looking down at my seat I see an old woman occupying it. She obviously decided that she was not going to sit in the middle no matter what while I constantly look at my seat assignment on my ticket and the numbers overhead. I’m not one to make much a fuss over things so I was considering my options. Make a fuss to the old lady, or be gentlemen and sit in the middle next to a Dutch kid. Then a twist, the girl in front of me jumps right into the middle seat unaware that her ticket was behind her in the open window seat. So I tell the older couple behind my seat assignment that the open window seat is mine and they happily let me slide through. Success!!! I lay my head against the window and quickly fall asleep.

I wake up an hour later and see that we are still on the tarmac. Apparently because of the weather there’s a traffic jam. If I would have known that, I would have stayed awake. Now I’m wide-awake and this flight is going to be long. Getting up in the air they turn on the TVs which helps make the flight go by faster. They show an episode of the office, a travel channel show and How I Met Your Mother episode. It did make time go by fast. Arriving in Orlando an hour late, I walked to baggage claim and picked up my luggage. Dragged it to the transport and took the bus to my car. My car was intact with no cracks in the windshield. I drove up to the lot and paid the 130-dollar parking fee and drove home hitting every stoplight on way.

Movie Reviews:
Gone Baby Gone
Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/gonebabygone/
Sometimes I get weary when people talk about how much they despise a certain actor. How they refuse to go their movies etc. People’s personal opinions matter, I know that, but come on. Take Keanu Reeves for instance, sure he’s a one-dimensional actor but I have enjoyed some of his movies. I enjoy the Matrix movies, I had fun at Speed and I think he was perfect in My Own Private Idaho. People may not like him as an actor but he’s smart to often pick quality projects that people go see. Give the guy a break.

Now lets take Ben Affleck. A lot of you have a problem with Ben because some of his movies are cheesy and he seems to take on rolls that are big budget sell out films but is he really that bad? I know a lot of you love Armageddon. I think he showed strength as an actor in Hollywoodland and the guy did win an academy award for writing Good Will Hunting. So the guy is pretty smart. Now what is he like as a writer director? Pretty darn good, actually! I’m not a strong fan of procedural crime movies but this movie has a raw intensity and with a 3rd Act that makes the entire movie worth watching and debating over. I’m waiting for someone to see it to discuss it with. The acting is top notch from everyone involved so I think this will be on my top 10 of the year. I’m sure it will receive some Golden Globe and possibly some Academy Award nominations. We’ll have to wait and see.

Across the Universe
Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/acrosstheuniverse/
From the first time I saw the trailer I really wanted to see this movie. I love Julie Taymor as a director. She has a visual style that I absolutely love. She’s done movies like Titus and Frida and directed Broadway shows like the Lion King. Now she’s directed a movie musical with nothing but Beetles songs. I’m in heaven. Then I read the controversy on how she didn’t get final cut and how she was a tyrant on set then the movie finally came out and got mediocre reviews. So it started to drop down on my list of movies to see.

The movie has bouts with brilliance and moments where I cringe. I still love her style but for some reason I think that the style really got away with some of the story. If you are one of those people who hate musicals where the characters just burst into song then you will hate this. Especially if you love Beetle songs and think you will hate all the songs being covered by the actors. Some burst into song moments I hated others I didn’t mind so much. I do recommend it simply because it is different and Julie’s visuals are so cool and it does have those moments of brilliance but my heart wasn’t as warm as it should have been at the end I was actually kinda ready for it to be over.

Lars and The Real Girl:
Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/mgm/larsandtherealgirl/trailer/

Ryan Gosling has cemented himself as one of the best actors of our generation. The guy is brilliant. In this movie he’s playing opposite to a doll and being a delusional extreme shy guy works perfectly for him. Although, I think the movie was just okay. There’s not much conflict in the film and it starts to drag on. Again my emotions really weren’t tugged at the end and were predictable. It’s a dark feel good movie that is simple. It doesn’t offer any twists and just stays true to itself, which I did like. Yet I didn’t walk away feeling any different from when I came in. I recommend it on Ryan’s performance and again something that’s quirky and different. I did like how an entire community goes out of their way to help Lars. It was very sweet. I know a lot of you will probably like it much more than me. So please, go enjoy.

To My Loyal Readers:

Now that 6 States in 25 Days is now officially over I want to thank you for going on this journey with me. I cannot tell you how much it means to me for all of you who read these. Your comments meant the world to me and made me feel less alone on these travels. Your love and support warmed my heart everyday. I hope my ramblings made you feel comforted as well and hopefully you walked away knowing me a bit better and learned something. I have learned so much about myself in ways that are good and bad. Their are things I really need to focus on and change about myself. The one gift that I did learned was that no matter what I will never be alone with friends and family like you. How at the end of the day no matter if it was good or bad that I have loved ones all around me. Knowing the support that is around me, it’s time to fix the things in my life that need fixing and start being the person I want to be.

Thank you
Thank you
Thank you.

AMITYVILLE HOUSE