“OMG, is that STILL on?”

why yes.  yes, general hospital is still indeed on the air.  and yes, i’m still watching!

the annual fan club weekend happened over the summer, and it kicked off with a special fundraising event hosted by vanessa marcil (formerly “brenda barrett”) and maurice benard (“sonny”).  i’d originally planned on staying at the hotel that hosted the event that weekend, but ended up deciding to stay home and drive in for the shenanigans.

when i got to the ballroom and found a seat, there were these autographed cards at each place setting.

roadogs rescue, who was the beneficiary of the event, had brought in some of their sweet dogs who are currently waiting to be adopted into their forever homes.  they were so cute.

a representative from roadogs started the evening as she took the stage to welcome everyone and thank us for being there to support the rescue.  she spoke a bit about the origins of roadogs and then brought vanessa and maurice onstage.

they were joined by joshua benard, maurice’s son.  he had a briefly recurring role on the show this year, so he was also a familiar face.

and since we were relatively close to the studio where the show films, we were joined by even more familiar faces - carolyn hennesy (“diane”), finola hughes (“anna”), laura wright (“carly”), rena sofer (“lois”), and eva la rue (“natalia”) - plus michael sutton (“stone”).

it was fun to listen to them banter with each other, and they hung out for just a little while before heading back outta there since some of them had early calls the next morning.

if you watched the show in the 90s, you’ll know who michael sutton was.  he played “stone cates,” who was the center of the AIDS storyline with kimberly mccullough’s “robin.”

even if you don’t watch soaps, rena sofer should be somewhat familiar to you.  she’s had roles in a lot of shows over the years like friends, once upon a time, seinfeld, heroes - and a bunch of other ones i can’t remember.  she was really nice, as was her husband (who happily took all of the photos with her fans).

i was especially excited to meet vanessa, who i’ve been a fan of since her first appearance on general hospital.  plus, she was in “the rock” with nicolas cage, the OG 90210, and the early ‘00s show las vegas, which the hub and i watched together back in our early years together.

fun fact: vanessa inexplicably blocked me on twitter a long time ago.  i swear i don’t know why, and i also swear that i never said anything bad about her (why would i?  i love her!).  my best guess is that she maybe went on a mass blocking spree at some point and i ended up as a casualty of it…?  anyway, i kept that little tidbit to myself when i finally did get to chat with her a bit.  she’s just as gorgeous in person as she is onscreen, and very sweet and friendly.

maurice stopped to sign a poster that was going to be put up for an online auction, and i just happened to be sitting right there.  heh.

my next event was on a smaller scale, with evan hofer (“dex”) and tabyana ali (“trina”).  they did a fun little panel where they shared stories about their experiences with the show and talked a little about their background and how they came to be on general hospital.  i’ve met them both before and i love that they both attend fan events like this with their moms (who are also happy to meet and chat with their kids’ fans).

next up - the main cast event.  it’s the best part of the weekend, and i was excited because i’d managed to score the top tier ticket this year.  woohoo!

dis tew much

once the bean was back home from all of our summer travels, we focused on having as much fun as we could.  our first outing was out to yama seafood to pick out some fresh fish and have an amazing sushi feast at home:

we also hit up our favorite sushi spot, because can you ever have enough sushi?

the dogs were really happy that they were home too.  they were particularly excited about the doggy ice cream we found for them in the freezer.

one day we took a day trip out to little tokyo for some udon at our favorite place:

and we caught a glimpse of the shohei ohtani mural.

we hit up disneyland at least twice - once with just the two of us, and another time with all five of us (and i’m kicking myself for not getting a family photo while we were there).

we had fun drawing at the animation academy:

the hub and i tried the ridiculously overpriced erewhon smoothies - as much as i don’t like eating fruit, i do love a good smoothie.

it was good to get back into the fitness routine too.

we decided to try something new together - bungee fitness.  i thought it was super fun, but the studio is in an empty warehouse with no a/c and we were dying.  maybe we’ll revisit it once the weather cools off again.

we spent time with friends too - one of the bean’s besties came with us to watch the new deadpool movie, and i got to have brunch with a group of my favorite people.

and for the last six weeks of summer, the bean got in a little work experience with their first job at a little burger shop called in-n-out.

we’re incredibly proud, and while it only lasted through the summer (and just a couple of weekends into the new school year), the experience taught them a lot.  there’s a lot to be said about working a fast-food job, especially at an incredibly busy, popular spot like in-n-out.  the bean learned some valuable skills - writing a resume, interviewing, completing employee paperwork, taking a course to earn a food handler’s permit.  and then there’s working as a team, how to deal with different personalities via co-workers and managers, customer service skills, and the basic tasks like mopping and cleaning counters and tables - all with a smile.

earning a paycheck and their driver’s license all in the span of less than six months - not to mention starting their junior year of high school.  phew.  it’s all going by so fast, and my baby is truly growing up and becoming a young adult.

*aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh*

racking up those airline miles

i had most of the next day to just chill at home, even squeezing in a barre class before it was time to head to the airport.  it was finally time to head back to the east coast to collect my child and then turn right back around to come home.  we’d discussed spending one night in the city, maybe catching another show or finding something fun to do, but in the end the bean decided that they’d been away for too long and just wanted to go home.

i’d booked myself a redeye, with a stop in dallas before landing in new york just in time to pick my child up from columbia.  and because we weren’t staying overnight, all i needed was a carry-on bag. 

after i got through security, i had plenty of time to kill before boarding began.  it was pretty late - 11pm - and nothing in the terminal was open aside from a grab-and-go snack and gift shop.  i spotted something interesting - a space sponsored by the california science center with several giant monitors with an animated aquarium.  i found a seat in there and watched the fish and sharks swim past until the gate attendants finally started calling up boarding groups.

with no baggage to worry about, i made myself comfy pretty quickly and passed out for most of the 3-hour flight to dallas.

we arrived in dallas at 5:30am, and of course my connecting flight was in a different terminal from the one we’d landed in.  DFW is gigantic and really spread out, but the skylink makes it easy to get from one end of the airport to the other.

and of course, the flight was delayed by about an hour with a gate change announced just before boarding was to begin.  so by the time i got onto the plane, the sun was coming up.

i was torn between going back to sleep and waiting for breakfast, but i figured i could eat first and sleep with a happy belly.

the flight took just under four hours, which was enough time for a fairly decent nap.  and by the time i woke up again, we were already descending into the city.

welcome (back) to new york!

if you’re ever on a redeye flight and want to freshen up a little, these little disposable toothbrushes come in clutch.  highly recommend.

i caught an uber as soon as i got off the plane, and a mere half hour later i was finally reunited with my child, who i’d missed dearly.

their roommate had already been picked up and was driving back home to texas, so we took one last look around to make sure that nothing had been left behind.

we had just enough time for one stop before heading back to the airport to catch our flight home, and of course that one stop was here:

after going through security and dropping off the bean’s very heavy, very full suitcase we had enough time to find the american airlines lounge to sit back, relax and get ready for the trip home.

and then it was time for the first leg of our journey.

till next time, new york!

a few hours later, i found myself back in dallas.  but this time, we had a five-hour layover - enough time to meet up with MIL and get some texas bbq.

the time went by all too fast, and pretty soon she was dropping us off at the airport for the last leg of our trip home.

i’d told the bean about the faux-quarium at the airport, so we stopped in for a second so they could check it out.

and then we went downstairs to pick up their suitcase and head outside to meet up with the hub, who was already waiting for us at the curb.

it had been a very long day for me, mostly spent sitting on an airplane.  but the bean was safely back home and we were all happy to be reunited.  yippee!