Yeah, I did this once before, but since I just got home from seeing the movie, I figured it was time for another go.

Oh, and I could not seem to get the shockwave thing to embed here, so you will have to just follow the link. Something must be broken in the code that is way beyond me because it plumb vanishes when I post it.

After saving so much by taking the Megabus to LA, you would think we could afford the other expenses easily enough, Well, it turns out that January is one of the hardest months for me work-wise, and so the hotel and park tickets are somewhat prohibitive even without the cost of travel. At this point we have a rather pricey hotel booked for Friday and Saturday nights (1/25-26), but we are actually arriving Thursday night. Staying with friends could work, although we are limited in our transportation once we are there, and I want to make sure that at a minimum, chaosloom, his brother, and myself are taken care of for lodging, if not msvwrose and gardengirl_34.



I am thinking that if there was a way to find a cheaper hotel situation or at least offset the cost of the hotel by not having to buy park tickets, it would help make this much more feasible.



Anyone have access to free or deeply discounted Disneyland tickets? I know that chaosloom would like to visit both parks while down there, so some 2-day park-hopper tickets would be ideal.



Can you help me make a birthday wish come true?

In late January we are celebrating the birthday of chaosloom by taking a trip down to Disneyland. We are going the last weekend of January, and welcome our friends joining us there.



While weighing our options for travel, we ended up deciding on taking the bus. Although the travel time is still as long as driving ourselves, and without the flexibility of having our own car, the price sure was right. Will had been telling me about the great deals you can get at Megabus, which offers typical rates of about $10 each direction from SF to LA. So yeah, that is already a great deal right there. Additionally, they even have $1 fares for some of the off-peak times that are booked far enough in advance (they only have booking open 45 days in advance so you have to plan around that). Well, I ran across a promotion code that ended up costing me a whopping 0.50¢ for four round-trip tickets to LA from SF. Yes, you are reading that right, less than 0.13¢ a person!



I like the idea behind why they are doing this:

"Megabus did the math and calculated that if they take 56 cars off the road with each bus trip filled to capacity, it will result in 3,850 fewer pounds of carbon emissions for every 100 miles traveled. If they fill 1,786 buses with this promotion, they will reduce CO2 emissions by 6.9 million pounds for every 100 miles traveled."



Hey dalisair, you might consider taking the bus up to SF for the remainder of Dickens Fair as I suspect the price at Megabus fits into your budget (even without the promotion) better than those flights you have been having so much trouble with.

Why am I awake? Ugh. Not sure what it was that woke me, but 5:22 am is not a time of day I planned to be waking up. Especially after a long day, with another one to follow!



Since it is traditional to blog when in this situation, here I am.



It seems there is a long list of small things contributing to this untimely condition. The biggest is probably my arm hurting. And yes, I was sleeping on it. It is strangely more comfortable to sleep on my right side, even though my right arm is the one that suffers from carpul tunnel. Sometimes this means sleeping on my arm. Sometimes my arm gets crampy. Sigh....



When I woke up enough to roll onto my back, my coy kitty, who likes to sleep on the bed with me at night, but hates to be approached, decided that it was a good time to perch ON me. She sauntered over to my center and settled in. This meant she found the spot right where I bend and curled up. Yes, that spot. Yes, I was on my back. So, here I am, slowly becoming wide awake, with a cat on my crotch. Now, don't get me wrong, I adore when she decides to snuggle with me; she is so coy otherwise, and yet this is one of the ways we bonded back when she was a kitten. She has a way of making one feel privileged for receiving any of her attentions. Even if for just a moment. But again, this is just a small contributing factor.



Once awake enough for my brain to engage, I am usually doomed. I loves me some good sleep, I do. I can sleep like the best of them. Not to rub it in, but the other day I slept until noon. Mmmm...sleeping in. I have, over the course of my life, had various sleep problems. Usually they have manifested as difficulty falling asleep. This has not been the case too often recently. It is more rare, however, for me to suffer from the awakes-too-early version of sleeplessness.



Well, I have any number of things I am mentally processing, including worries about tasks I need to take care of, so now my brain is on and whirring away.



And now I have had the requisite cup of tea, while surfing the internet.



Brain still on.



Still not king.



Meh!

I finally have a photo of me and chaosloom together from our Dark Garden window modeling this last Sunday. Thanks to terpsichoros for taking this one.

The start of our window Will and I modeled in a Dark Garden window on Sunday, Dec. 2. This is the first pose, and does not reveal much about the story. Taken by terpsichoros.