Last night with my pals. . . night at Heathrow

The flight back to the UK was uneventful, I think I sat by Daryn? and, shocker, he didn't really talk, so I just slept. We flew into Gatwick, collected our luggage and got on the coach to Heathrow which is where most of us were flying out of. OF COURSE, when we got to Heathrow, my luggage from Harlaxton wasn't on the right truck, so they had to unload the ENTIRE other truck that had Italy 2's luggage on it and mine was in the very back corner. Only me. Perpetually awkward.

So after that fiasco we decided to find a place to camp out, and we found the other 30 people who had the same idea so we made a large camp on the side of a big hallway. Alex and I got coffee and food, had a picnic with Courtney and Lord Kitten, and then hung out with some people. Eventually Danielle and I helped Alex load up all of her stuff and we went to the other terminal with her (this was at about 4am), so by the time we got back from that it was about 5 so I decided to start getting ready for the day. I changed, brushed my teeth, got hot chocolate with Katie, and waited around with Waner after check-in until it was time to board. Waner and I had a deep convo like we always do, it was nice. When it was time to board we waited in line all together, and Katie got searched :). Luckily this time I was seated next to people I knew, so me and Jake were seat buddies instead of an old fat man. At this point I had been up 24 hours with only a few short naps. I did sleep a little bit on the plane, but only the equivalent of about an hour. I watched The Office and Bandslam, and then before I knew it we were landing in CHICAGO!

Customs was a breeze. The guy looked at my card, said "Okay", and I got to go through. For some reason I thought it was going to be a really long walk to Arrivals, but it was only a few feet. And then I was tackled by my sister and I looked up and there was Mom, Dad, Dan and Katie! It was so great to see all of them, I was so dazed and tired and happy that I don't remember much of those first few moments of seeing them besides my mom sobbing in the corner and my dad just holding my hand really tight.

I couldn't really sleep on the car ride back because I was just so excited, they hadn't had a chance to hear about Italy or my last night at Harlaxton so I told them all about it, and then of course we made the customary stop at the Kalamazoo Arby's because it is THE BEST ARBY'S IN THE WORLD, so that was my first meal back in the US!

The weather was awful on the drive back, and I got a text from Mary saying that hers and Chris's flight was delayed because of it, and then Alex was stranded at Heathrow because her flight was canceled! I was so thankful that I was home safe, but I was also thankful that at least the three of them weren't all alone, that there were plenty of our other friends who couldn't make it back on time either. They all made it back well before Christmas so that was awesome!

The night I got home I gave out a few presents, and then of course me and Katie and Dan and my dad had a few beers. I stayed up really late - I think we counted I'd been up for more or less 38 hours. Jet lag was not my friend the next few days.

So that concludes my European adventure, the rest of my blogs will not be nearly as exciting and I apologize in advance for the dullness!

Sister bonding time.

So I interviewed my mom and my sister for my TV writing project.  I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time.  The whole thing is about my sister's struggle with ADHD -- she wasn't diagnosed until she was 14, but she has clearly had it her whole life.  Nikki just recently started talking about it; she was very sensitive about the issue until about a year ago.

I recorded the interviews on GarageBand so I could go back and transcribe them later.  However, my sister wants me to convert hers to an mp3 file so she can put it on her myspace!  It's that funny.  We weren't even trying to be funny, and she did answer the questions honestly and I got a great interview, but we couldn't stop laughing!  She would say something kind of depressing, but then we would both crack up for no reason.  We sound pretty heartless, but for some reason the whole thing was hilarious.  It didn't help that we were literally lying in a bed in our pajamas, so it was extremely informal.

My mom's interview was a bit more serious -- we were at the kitchen table while she was eating lunch.  She still cracked jokes and we laughed, my family is kind of incapable of being serious, but my mom is probably the most serious out of all of us, so she gave some really great responses.

It was really nice to sit down and talk with them about something that has affected our whole family for so long.  Most of the time we are a let's-just-not-talk-about-it-maybe-it-will-go-away family, so it cleared the air a bit!

The Great Circus Mystery

Teenager finally beats Sega game after 12 years

Nicole O'Hara will be the first to tell you: it's been a long and treacherous road.

It all started at the tender age of 6, when the now 18-year-old Nicole received a Sega Genesis for Christmas.

"It was our favorite Christmas present for many, many years afterward," Nicole says.  "We all had our favorite games: Dad had Mickey Mania, Mom had Wheel of Fortune, my sister had Toy Story . . . but for me, it was The Great Circus Mystery."

Nicole watched her older sister Janelle beat The Great Circus Mystery alone many times, and when the two small girls played it 2-player, Nicole got to experience the thrill of beating the game.  However, Nicole could never beat it alone.

"I can't even describe how hard I tried," Nicole sighs, choking up a little.  "Even when I broke my arm when I was 9, I asked the doctor: 'can I still play Sega?'  I tell you, I was obsessed.  Watching Janelle beat the game twice a day like it was a piece of cake really drove me nuts."

The Great Circus Mystery is a Mickey and Minnie Mouse game in which the protagonists travel through many worlds (jungle, caves, haunted house, ice world, the castle, etc.) in order to solve the mystery of the disappearing circus and defeat the villain, Baron Pete.

Periodically, throughout the tumultuous years of middle school and high school, Nicole would hole up in her room and try to focus her negative energy on destroying evil Baron Pete, to no avail.

"I think that if I would have beaten Baron Pete in middle school, I wouldn't have felt so much teen angst," she claims, though she's half-joking.  "We never had another gaming system, either.  We really aren't video game people, but Sega was a special part of our childhood."

And adulthood, apparently.  Over this past Christmas break, Janelle, now 21, brought Sega home from college.  After Nicole and Janelle successfully beat the game, Janelle challenged her sister to beat it by herself.

Nicole was up to the challenge.  "It was a big deal.  My parents sat down and watched it.  My sister popped popcorn.  I had a feeling that this was the day."

Ignoring the jeers of her father and sister, and feeling heartened by the continued support of her mother, Nicole triumphed over all the bosses and declared victory over evil Baron Pete.

"It was a great feeling!" Nicole exclaims, flashing a huge grin.  "I imagine that it feels something like when you get out of prison after 12 years.  Well, maybe not.  But I feel like I have finally busted out of my Sega-induced prison."

For the record, at the time of victory, Minnie Mouse had 2 out of 7 lives and 3 out of 7 hitpoints left.

Janelle is proud of her little sister.  "It got a little draining, watching her suck so bad for all those years," she says.  "It was as much a victory for us as it was for her."