Last night was the TAPS event at The College of William & Mary. It was so fun! If you want the extended version, keep reading. If you just want to see pics, go to my Flickr photostream.

I was SO excited to attend–I found out about the event over a month ago, rather accidentally–I went to the official TAPS site one day and glanced at their appearances/events calendar, and behold! Jason and Grant in Williamsburg, Virginia! After talking with no less than four people in four different departments on campus, I tracked down the correct date and time of the event! (There was a discrepancy initially, with W&M saying one day and TAPS saying another. We got it straightened out, though.)

I took a half day off from work, and my friend M and I drove up to Williamsburg around 1 PM. I was worried because someone from my Ghost Hunters Fans group on Ravelry sent me a message yesterday morning to let me know that there were people in line for tickets already, at 9:30 AM! So panic mode kicked in and I was afraid that tickets might be sold out by the time we got to the college.

The drive to Williamsburg wasn’t a long one, except for the fact that we ran into road work on the way. Figures, when time is of the essence, what does the universe send you? ROAD WORK! But we got to Williamsburg around 2:30 and then were faced with the confusion over parking.

Neither of us had been to William & Mary before, and while we had been told by the college to use street parking on Richmond Rd., when we got there, all the street parking was full. Gack. We drove around two or three times, trying to figure out where else to park (supposedly we were supposed to use metered parking but each parking lot we found with meters said “faculty and staff only,” so that was rather confusing). So I started panicking again and made the not-very-great decision to use the downtown paid parking garage and walk onto campus. The parking garage itself wasn’t a problem, but it was kind of a long walk from there to campus.

But we found the University Center, right next to the stadium, and went in. We found the Commonwealth Auditorium (after going up a flight of stairs only to realize that the second floor, where we’d entered, was the main floor). We saw flyers for the Ghost Hunters event and knew we were in the right place. I looked around–there was a student lounge area outside the auditorium, and saw four or so other people sitting around reading. Two of the girls had on TAPS shirts, so I definitely knew we were in the right place.

We found some comfy seats and basically sat around and waited. And waited. And waited. By this time it was only around 3 PM, so we had a few more hours till tickets went on sale at 6. We were hungry, so M went down to the first floor and got us subs from Quizno’s while I sat and waited outside the auditorium. Even though we were the first handful to arrive, I said there was no way I was getting up and leaving, lol. After we ate, it was still early so I pulled out the knitting and worked on my sock. It’s always a good time to knit, you know.

The hours passed and slowly people began to trickle in. They sat down in other chairs outside the auditorium, and I was starting to get very antsy when all of a sudden several people started a line outside the door, then everyone else who had been waiting got in line, so we went, too. At this time it wasn’t even 5:00, I don’t think…so we were in line for about an hour.

We met a nice guy and girl who were behind us in line–I didn’t get their names but we chatted with them for a bit. And then we waited. And waited.

Finally at 6, the event staff (who were basically students from the college who could have been more organized, I think, but hey I shouldn’t complain!) came out with tickets and started handing them out. Students got in for free with their student IDs, and the general public had to pay (it was only $8 per person). So a bunch of the students started forming a new line to get in the door, and we ended up being further back in line than we originally had been, since we had to pay first.

More waiting! They made us stand in line for another hour till the doors opened around 6:45. My feet were hurting by the time we went in! (I would have sat down, but the floor looked kind of suspicious so I opted for standing, lol.)

When we went in, we chose pretty close seats–I think we were in the fifth or sixth row from the front. The big screen at the front was HUGE, so we had a great view. It was like being at the movies.

Yes, more waiting! People continued to trickle in and fill the seats up till 7, when the event was scheduled to begin. And though we had originally been told that there were a limited number of 50 general public tickets available, no one was turned away, even though the auditorium was nearly sold out.

It was a little after 7 when one of the event staff guys went up to the stage. He read a little intro about TAPS (and was corrected by the crowd when he pronounced “Jason Hawes” as “Jason House”), and then Jason and Grant came onto the stage!

Much applause followed and it was SO exciting! They look exactly the same as they do on TV, Jason’s goatee included, lol.

They started the slideshow presentation on the big screen, which was a summary of TAPS.

The presentation also included case studies (with participation from the audience) about previous investigations, sample EVPs (including some I’d never heard before, not from the show), video evidence (some from the show but a couple clips pre-Sci Fi channel, including two *hilarious* clips of a fence gate that had it in for both Jason and Grant).

It was just such a cool experience to see them talk in person–of course I’ve watched the show/DVDs over and over and I listen to their radio show every week, but to see them in person was the best. They are so funny together and it’s obvious they were really enjoying themselves as well as us in the crowd.

At the end of the slideshow, Grant announced that unfortunately, they wouldn’t be able to sign autographs and take photos with everyone because they had to catch an early morning (3 AM!) flight today. I was *so* bummed. I had had my heart set on getting pics with each of them, but then I quickly realized I couldn’t be too disappointed–I got to see them in person, laugh a lot, and enjoy several pieces of evidence I’d never seen before.

Then it was time for Q&A and they both went into the audience to answer questions. We were sitting on Grant’s side of the stage, so we were closer to him.

Jason was on the other side of the room.

I then decided, ok, if I won’t be able to get pics with them, I am going to ask a question! So I was wracking my brain trying to think of a question that wouldn’t sound absolutely stupid, and came up with–ok, Ouija boards. I’ll ask what it is about them specifically that they’re so opposed to. Brilliant!

So Grant answers a question from a lady sitting in the row in front of us, and she has two questions. First, “What type of audio recorder do you think is best?” (or something similar), then (I am not kidding), “Second, Ouija boards! Why don’t you endorse using them?”

ARG! That was totally my question! LOL ok, ok, think fast…er…umm! So I shot up my hand really quickly so that Grant wouldn’t pass me by, and he saw me and waited next to me while Jason was about to answer another question several rows behind us. Well he ended up signing an autograph for someone, so Grant came over to me. eeee! hehehe

ok, sidenote–yes, I know I am squealing (as much as I can in text) like a teenage girl over Elvis in 1960, but hello, this is TAPS…they basically ARE like Elvis to me. LOL! Not only am I a fan of their TV show, radio show, and book, but I’m also a big fan of Grant’s music.

So Grant came over with the microphone, and I (hoping to god or goddess or dog) that I don’t sound like an absolute moron, said, “This actually isn’t a paranormal question, but–I love your music! Are you coming out with a CD, because I would buy it!”

ok, inwardly I’m pimpslapping myself for not coming up with something far wittier or cleverer, but cut me some slack. Chick in front of me stole my other question, lol.

Grant laughed, and then he said “Thank you very much,” and I said “You’re welcome!” and he said, “I’m trying!” (about his music). So I said, “Ok, thank you!” and that was my Grant experience.

I did manage to get quite a few close pics of Grant while he was on our side of the audience, as well as Jason when he came around later.

Then they were basically wrapping up. Some people actually went up to Jason and asked him to autograph stuff, which he did (very nice of him!), and some people actually got out of their seats and went up to him, but I didn’t want to be rude, especially after he and Grant had just said minutes before that they really didn’t have time to do that. So I thought that was a *little* rude of the other people, but J&G were very nice to everyone.

After that, they went back up to the stage and the event staff thanked them and made some closing remarks. We gave them a round of applause, and then the event staff told everyone to look under their chairs for a piece of paper (or something, not sure) because they were giving away a signed Ghost Hunters poster along with a signed “Ghost Hunters camera,” of which my first thought was, thermal camera? Mini DV? lol, in reality it looked like a disposable camera but I think one of the kids in the crowd won it, which was cute. While everyone was looking under their chairs, though, I was watching Jason and Grant and they kind of snuck off stage at that time. I wanted to wave goodbye to them, or something! lol

To say it again, I had such a good time at the event. I really hope I can attend a future event where I’ll be able to actually talk to both of them and do a proper meet and greet, but I was just really happy for last night’s experience. It was definitely worth the wait and even all the confusion over the event date and parking.

If you ever have the opportunity to go see Jason and Grant, definitely do it!

That reminds me of this miniseries I watched once, an adaptation of Stephen King’s The Langoliers. This group of people were confused because a bunch of other people around them simultaneously disappeared…and the movie was so creepy and weird, until one dude pipes up and (with a totally straight face) says, “Maybe we went through a TIME RIP.” A what? yeah, the movie wasn’t so scary after that. Anybody else ever see it?

- I, like millions, was sucked into the void that was the MTV VMAs last night. Yes, I wanted to see Britney’s train wreck performance and she delivered! The train wreck, that is. Not so much a performance. ok, here’s the thing: not to bash on her as a person because she’s clearly had some personal shite going on in her life in recent months, which I totally understand. But just as a “singer” and performer? Last night’s show was *terrible.* We all knew she would lip synch, but as I was watching, I kept thinking that she didn’t even look into it, like she wasn’t having fun at all. Honestly, she looked like she was sedated or something. She barely danced and toward the end she actually stopped lip synching entirely. eh? It seemed rather pitiful and sad. I think she should retire and focus on raising her kids…but hey…just my lousy opinion.

+ Work will hopefully be less stressful this week than it was last week. Our company is having a big annual meeting all week long so a bunch of people (including my boss) are out of the office. It would be nice to have a little downtime.

+ I think I want to revive another crafty endeavor, cross stitch! For some reason, every time I’m at Barnes & Noble, my eyes wander over to the Celtic pattern books and I looooove the prettiness of it all. And look at all this Scottish wonderfulness! I haven’t cross stitched in a long time–knitting sort of staged a coup of every other creative outlet I once had, including writing–but I think I might pop on over today and find a pattern book, then head to the craft store and get some cloth and thread. Maybe. We’ll see if my old (lol) eyes can handle the teeny-tiny little Aida fabric holes anymore!

- I’m still feeling sort of ambivalent about knitting socks, even though I’m currently working on a sock. My second purple Monkey is nearing completion (I’m on the gusset) but I think once it’s done I’m going to make a sweater. Probably. I want it to be fall or winter…it’s still kind of hot here most days!

- I had to get some blood work done on Saturday morning and my arm is a bit bruised up right now. They took two vials (not much at all) for a cholesterol screening, recommended by my doctor since I have immediate family with high cholesterol. I’m supposed to get the results back this week, I think. I had to fast eating for 12 hours before the test, so I did the easy thing and stopped eating around 10 PM Friday night and then went to the lab Saturday morning around 11 AM. I was soooo hungry when all was said and done, so I had some happy little shrimp at Red Lobster for lunch after that. I figure if my doctor’s potentially going to tell me that my eating habits need to change, I need to live it up right now before I found out about it, lol. I know that makes no sense in reality but it does in the slow cooker of my mind so indulge me.

+ Those of you who use Netflix–did they recently lower the price of your plan? I got an email saying that my plan was going from $9.99/month to $8.99/month. That was pretty cool! I have the 1-out-at-a-time, unlimited per month…I *think* that’s what it is.

ok, I’m off to kill some time on Ravelry…Monday needs to go by more quickly than this…!

I had to work almost an hour longer today than I normally do because my boss asked me to do a bunch of stuff at the end of the day. It was ok, nothing too difficult but I had a brain burp and emailed someone totally the wrong thing. Right after discussing the whole thing with my boss, I emailed someone the wrong thing. yeah, brilliant. Of course my boss caught it and I fixed it, but still. I hate when that happens!

New L&V episode, squee!

L&V shop update happened today and I AM RESISTING. (58 skeins, 58 skeins, 58 skeins o’ sock yarn have I…) But wow, they’re pretty!

I found myself in need of more summery shirts/tops since the weather has been creeping up to the 80s of late, so I found some cute things at Target today.

Lost comes on tonight, the penultimate episode for this season. I just like saying/typing penultimate. Note to the writers (who of course read this little blog, haha): please either make Jack get some sense knocked into his thick skull, or else just kill him off. He has gotten bloody annoying, thanks.

Yesterday I noticed that Jenna has an Etsy shop, and I sort of fell over from the prettiness and then after I got back up I bought this ring. I’ve started wearing rings again. For a couple months, I wasn’t wearing any because I was getting used to the feeling of not wearing a wedding ring anymore, but now I’m wearing pretty rings again and this one will be a pretty addition to my small collection. (And how many times can I use the word “pretty” in this post? Never too many, apparently!)

ok, I need to medicate now and attempt to breathe, listen to L&V, and then watch Lost! Told you this post was all random and weird!

And of course, all that knitting as packing procrastination I did previously came back to haunt me, as in recent days I’ve practically awakened from a cold sweat thinking, HOLY CRAP I STILL AM NOT DONE PACKING!

Well, this weekend and today I’ve made a lot of progress. My spare room is nearly empty, praise all things holy! The real nightmare about it, though, is that there are two things I keep finding more of. 1) clothes and 2) yarn. oh wait, then there’s 3) books. sigh. I should take a photo of all the stuff that I am giving to Salvation Army, only I think you might get scared because I know I am. It’s literally getting difficult to walk around the living room because I’ve got stuff I’m keeping on one side of the walkway and stuff I’m giving away on the other side. The poor dogs look more confused every day that I add more to the piles. I think they’re just mirroring the confusion on my face as I question myself: How the heck did I become a packrat? And when did this occur?

I will say, though, that seeing all the stuff I’ve amassed has opened my eyes to not only how wasteful I’ve become over the years, but how to avoid this in the future. Quite simply put…buy less stuff. oh what a revelation! No one needs this much clothes. Or this many books. Hence, I have given/am giving bunches away. I hesitate to say that no one needs this much yarn, because you can NEVER have enough yarn, right? Well…in my case, yes. Sadly, you CAN have too much yarn. So once again, I have sold/given/am giving lots (BIG lots) away. And cripes, great, I just read that Sheri at The Loopy Ewe is updating tonight. Blast!!! Noooooo! I must resist. Must. Will! Shall!

(Even after I widdled down the yarn stash, I’ve organized it all into two clear plastic tubs. And they’re both positively filled with yarn, each of them. I think each tub is 20 gallons, but I’m not sure. That’s enough yarn, I say! Enough! Do not buy more!!! [Talking to myself here...yeah])

That’s enough packing for today, though. I did some last evening, got a second wind of energy when I really should have gone to bed around 11 PM, and watched the first two discs of Lost, Season 1. I’ve had these from Netflix for a couple weeks but just got around to watching them and now I am totally addicted. For real. I watched discs 1 and 2 back to back…that’s, what, 6 hours?? And if you’re following the math part of this, yes…I didn’t go to sleep till 5 AM this morning. That would have been fine if I had the luxury of sleeping in this morning, but no, I had an appointment and so my alarm woke me at 8. So I’ve been operating on only 3 hours of sleep today. If I start typing nonsensical phrases or just random characters, you know it’s sleep deprivation/delirium and possibly hallucinations…

(I am now going to lie down and watch MORE Lost, Season 1, until I konk out and fall asleep, probably.)

Speaking of the DVD recorder, I haven’t even hooked it up to the TV yet, so I’m going to do that right after I post this! And I must test it, to make sure it works properly. I’ve never had a DVD recorder before, so hopefully it won’t be too difficult to figure out.

EDIT: I hooked up the DVD recorder all by myself and it works perfectly! I tested it, of course, at different recording speeds and what not…and I am good to go for tomorrow’s GH episode.

In other news…

I spent a couple hours today at the library after work. I have got to get caught up in one of my lit classes. I got a lot of reading done today, in the quiet and virtual solitude of the library. It was better than trying to read in my house, among a ringing phone and the temptation of TV/knitting/Internet. Must discipline myself.

In light of recent…life craziness?…I’ve been medicating. Buying stuff. I’m waiting for my first Lisa Souza yarn order to arrive. I ordered a Ghost Hunters hoodie. I ordered a new Socks that Rock colorway. And last, I ordered a ring from Kathryn Riechert on Etsy.

Retail therapy, all online. This is either really, really bad, or the best I can do right now to get through everything.

So, I medicate. TV, knitting, distractions.

Tonight is the season 3 premiere of Ghost Hunters! They’re having a marathon right now. Part 1 of the Project Runway season finale comes on tonight too, but GH comes before PR in my book. Besides, Bravo will replay PR all weekend long, I’m sure. I found out the other day that the girl I work with now watches GH too. woo!

The husband is going out of town this weekend for yet another SCA event. I plan to do homework and a LOT of knitting. I’m trying to bust my stash myself–using what I have. So now I have about 7 or 8 projects in queue, with yarn I already own. Sweet.

I have a lot more I’d like to say, but can’t find the proper words. Maybe later…

And I really should be more alert than this because I had a mocha earlier tonight. I should be wired! But no, I’m just confused. (When am I not confused, though? Still, I should be confused yet wired.)

I’m chugging away on my second Snakes on a Sock. I’m doing the heel flap now, taking a break so I can rest my fingers (by typing? hmm yeah).

I don’t think I ever posted this, but–Diana Gabaldon has a podcast now! For the Outlander series obsessed. Her voice is different–took some getting used to for me, plus she talks kind of fast. But I love hearing her talk about The Books, and hopefully the podcast will satiate me until the next Outlander book comes out…whenever that will be. A word of…caution?–the current episode, #5: Sex Scenes, is probably *not* the best episode to start with, lol. Particularly if you’ve never read the books at all. DG reads and explains excerpts from the latest book (her love scenes versus formula romance novels, etc.)…just a disclaimer there!

The husband just stole the TV from me, turning off my Ghost Hunters: Season 2, Part 2 in favor of watching C-SPAN. hmmm I’m not a fan of C-SPAN, but whatever floats his boat! I’m still in birthday mode for him–he turned 30 on Friday. And he is convinced he is some old man now. I badgered him in efforts of trying to figure out just what the heck to buy him for his birthday, but every time I asked, he just said, “I don’t know.” ?? Soooo I asked him if he wanted to go out for dinner, or what. He said, “Let’s go to The Olive Garden.” umm…we don’t have one here. The closest one is two hours away. So he asked for spaghetti and meatballs, which I made (from scratch! The meatballs, anyway. I didn’t mash my own tomatoes, or anything). We’re planning on going to Lubbock on the 9th (of October, eek! already?) since we’re both off for Columbus Day and doing a little shopping, or something. Just to get away from here.

So technically, I still need to buy him a birthday present, belatedly. I asked him yet again today what he wants, and he said Stargate SG-1 Season 9, which releases this Tuesday. PERFECT! He has every other season. That’s 8 boxed sets. That’s a lot of Stargate. He’s quite obsessed with the series, you see. But at least I know what to buy him, even if it’s late. It’s the thought that counts, and everything.

btw, the guy on Stargate who plays Daniel Jackson? Totally hot. Really. (When the husband was stationed in Germany, his friends thought he looked like Daniel Jackson [Michael Shanks]. I see some resemblance, but only when they’re both wearing glasses.)

I really think I’m descending into something reminiscent of adolescent boy craziness with all my fantasy boyfriends. Ewan McGregor (of course), Hugh Jackman (he would totally be my boyfriend if Ewan wasn’t first; and he is filming a movie with Ewan, btw. hehehe), Clay Aiken??, and Michael Shanks. I have these weird crushes, I know it’s insanely goofy but then again, so am I. I tend to be drawn to actors/singers/musicians, though. I wonder if Michael Shanks is a singer too?! (Good Lord, I am so rambling. It’s 1 AM here. And I’m highly caffeinated. I’m shutting up now.)

* Spoilers ahead! You have been warned! *

I already knew it was Keith getting kicked off because I googled it a few days ago and found out. Only, the blogs I read said that Keith had ripped off actual designer outfits for his audition portfolio. So the real reason he was kicked off–being in possession of design books–was a surprise to me.

Actually, I had no clue that was one of the PR rules. But if no one else was allowed to have them, definitely Keith was wrong to have them. But I’m wondering–why keep them in the apartment, where someone obviously could discover them (Kayne) and turn him in? Did he want to get caught? Was all this just for publicity?

I’m sort of sad because while Keith was very arrogant, I liked his designs. I wonder what will become of him after all this.

I was also surprised how quickly it all happened! Kayne found out, went to the producers, Tim talked to Keith, bam! He’s gone! I guess all the hype in the commercials and everything just made it seem like the drama would go on for the whole episode, or something.

As an aside, I can’t believe Angela was chosen to be a team leader for this challenge. Her designs are hideous. (Sorry if you’re a fan of hers!) I think Laura and Michael definitely tamed her rosettes, haha, and made the outfit a winner. Angela would not have won on her own!

[tags]project runway, tv[/tags]