No VIP? NO Hitman!

Bret Hart is coming to town!

I'm going to MEET Bret Hart!!! Uh ... I mean ... The BOYS are going to MEET Bret Hart!

Or at least I thought we were going to.


One night last week, around 2am when I couldn't sleep, I caught a commercial that pushed thoughts of sleep right out of my head, and replaced those zzzzzz with visions of black leather jackets, aviator shades, and pink leotard.

It was an advertisement for the Maritime Wrestling Expo, featuring WWE Superstar and Hall of Famer, the legendary Bret "Hitman" Hart!


So anyone who's been around the Korner awhile, knows the boys are HUGE WWE fans.

Mama, on the other hand, despite a 15 yr hiatus, is old school, and was a HUGE Bret Hart fan, back in the day.

Yes. I just said, 'back in the day.'

And now that he's buried the hatchet with McMahon, and has been making a comeback on the WWE, he's become a FAMILY favourite.

Oh yeah, this good Canadian girl still has a small thing for Canada's first son of wrestling!

Just a small one ...

Did I mention ... Bret Hart! In MY back yard! WooHoo!


The Promoter for this event is Mainstream Wrestling Entertainment.

It's the organization's 10th anniversary, so to commemorate the event, they have organized a Wrestling Expo which will feature merchandise, matches with worldwide competitors, nostalgia, and of course, the picture and autograph session with Bret Hart, as well as the 'salutation and ceremony' honouring him.


The day after seeing the commercial, I checked out Ticketatlantic.com

Compared the prices, and decided for this particular event, I'd go for the floor seats.

Usually I go for the cheaper lower bowl seats, but I wasn't sure what security was like at this venue, and at the Metro Centre, they won't let the kids down on the floor when the wrestlers are coming in and out, unless you have a seat ON the floor.

So ... for this particular event, a possible 'once in a lifetime' view of Bret Hart. I wanted the floor.

The website divided tickets into VIP (first 5 rows on floor), floor, (row 6 to bowl) and bowl/bench.

I figured for the sake of five rows, I'd save myself a few bucks, and the boys would still have the opportunity to get close enough to the Hitman and the other wrestlers.

At lunchtime, I went to one of the ticket outlets, and got our tickets.

Oh yeah, Baby!!! Happy Dance!!!

Row 6! SIX people!!!!

Seats 6, 7 & 8.

WOOHOO!!!

After I picked up the tickets, I then emailed the guy I met back in May, Armband Dude, who I had purchased the Jeff Hardy Armbands, and Rey Mysterio masks from.

Remember, the guy who let the boys go into the wrestling ring for their birthdays?

I was curious if his organization had anything to do with this expo.

Wasn't long before I got a reply back, letting me know that, 'YUP!' it was HIS show!

At dinner that evening, I had the boys close their eyes, and placed the tickets next to their plates.

They opened.

They saw the word WRESTLING.

They freaked.

They saw the name Bret Hart.

They freaked even more.

Then ... THEN I told them about the autograph session.

The Meet & Greet.

Adam looks at me, and says, 'You mean ... I'm going to be RIGHT next to him, and I can say Hi Bret Hart, my name is Adam!'

I'm not sure which one of us was more excited when I replied, 'YUP!!!'

Now, when I first purchased the tickets, seeing the only difference listed between VIP and the rest of the floor, was that it was the first five rows, I just ASSUMED that the autograph session was included in the 'overall' ticket price.

Imagine my surprise, when later that evening, I'm on the website for Mainstream Wrestling Entertainment and it jumped out at me, NO VIP ticket, no admission into the autograph lineup.

No VIP? No Hitman!

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

You're KIDDING ME!

Don't get me wrong, as much as I'm sure the boys would enjoy any LIVE wrestling match, it was Bret Hart, and the possibility of them being 'that close' to him, that was the reason we were going.

Well DAMN!

Mama screwed up!

BIG TIME!

Now ... how was I going to fix it?

I couldn't bring the tickets back and exchange them for VIP. The vendor wouldn't allow me to do that.

Should I go out and buy three more tickets? And try to sell the regular floor ones I had?

Maybe if I had that kind of extra cash.

Or ...

Or ...

OR ...

If there was ONE person in the world who might be able to swap my tickets for me, it was the promoter!!!!

Suddenly, I could hear my mother in my head.

'Kimberly, you never know unless you ASK! All they can say is NO!'

And so, I asked.

I emailed the guy from Mainstream Wrestling Entertainment, who had given the boys so much fun for their birthday, and I asked.

I asked if he'd be willing to swap my tickets for VIP ones.

I explained how I hadn't realize that the regular floor did NOT include the meet and greet, and now I was going to have a VERY unhappy couple of boys on my hands when I had to tell them the difference.

Before I contacted the promoter, I mentioned my Operation Ticket Swap to a couple of people at the office.

They weren't very optimistic I'd be successful.

I believe one quote was 'He won't do that!'

I had to try.

I have a little boys who asked me 'You mean ... I'm going to be RIGHT next to him, and I can say Hi Bret Hart, my name is Adam!'

To which *I* had replied, 'YUP!'

I asked.

And you know what he said?

'No sweat.'

NO SWEAT!!!!

Oh believe me my friends, this mama was SWEATIN'!!!!!

And so, we did the swap.

Before we met, I wasn't really concerned WHERE our seats would be.

I figured anywhere in the first five rows would be VERY cool!

The whole point of upgrading the tickets was to make sure we got into the Meet & Greet, however, an inevitable seat upgrade in the process would be an added bonus too!

I gave him my tickets, he opened his envelope and asked, 'Do you think the boys are going to mind these seats?'

Later, I asked the boys, 'OK, so would you be really upset if we got to meet Bret Hart, but ended up getting kind of crappy seats instead?'

Adam gave me a full out, 'Yes!'

Alec was trying to be more understanding, but I could see the disappointment already registering on his face.

That's when I pulled out the new tickets, and said,'Sorry, this was the best he could do. But remember, we STILL get to see and MEET Bret Hart ... OK?'

I then handed this to Alec ...

UM ... YEAH ... that's row ONE!!!!!

ONE!!!!

Row one, seats 1,2 & 3!

OH. YEAH. BABY!

(If you're REALLY interested where that is, you can view the Seating Plan.)


I couldn't believe it!

Something in the first five rows, I expected.

Row ONE?

Knocked me flat!


Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, Devin!!!!!

You came to my rescue and saved the day, and my butt!


AND put it in the FIRST row!

Now, the ONLY thing that might make that day/night any better, is if Mr Bret Hart says YES, when Adam invites him to come out for pizza with us after the show.

Cause ya KNOW he's gonna ask him!

Oh ... and Mr Co-worker, remember ... NEVER doubt a woman when she says she really wants something, and more importantly, the power of asking nicely ;-p

K.

P.S. Due to my latest 'adventure', the Ticketatlantic.com has since updated their info on what's included with the VIP tickets. Yeah. That me. Changing the world, one website at a time! ;-p

Freakin’ Ghosts! Messin’ With My Head! AND My Clock!

Remember awhile back, I told you about (what I considered to be) the paranormal activity going on in my basement one night?

Remember, I also mentioned that sometimes strange things happen around my house?

Yeah?

Good! Cause I have ANOTHER tale for ya!


There seems to be ‘someone’ in my house who likes to mess with my alarm clock.

At first, I thought it was me.

Sleepclocking.

Since the ex and I split, I have been known to turn my alarm off in my sleep, and jump up in panic mode on more than one morning.

However, lately, I’ve had a few alarm clock related incidents that now have me thinking it’s NOT me … AT ALL!


Last night before going to sleep, I checked the clock. I KNOW I did, because I’ve become somewhat OCD the past six years about the alarm clock.

I don’t wake up easily, so I NEED to make sure the clock is set, and LOUD so I’ll hear it in the morning.

This morning, I opened my eyes and was already facing the clock.

The display read 9:07am


GROAN! Roll over. Snuggle down into the warm blankets.

Wait a minute …

WHAT?!??! WHAT?!?!? Did that say 9:07am?!?!??! HOLY CRAP!!!!


I usually get up at 6:30am.


I shot out of bed, taking note that it didn’t seem light enough outside for 9:07am yet … but that means nothing, when you’re stumbling out of a dark room with only one eye open, focusing on trying not to trip over the dog, as opposed to actually looking out the window.

Made it to the kitchen to see that it was actually only 7:03am.

7:03am! PHEW!!!!!


Once I had Adam up and out of the house for the bus, I went back to my room and checked out the clock, to see what the heck was up with it.


Not only was the time ‘off’ by two hours … the alarm was turned off, AND the volume had been turned all the way down.

OK, I can work with the fact that most likely … maybe … *I* was the one who turned it off in my sleep.



However … there’s not a chance in hell I changed the time by two hours, AND turned the volume all the way down, AND turned the alarm off in my sleep.

JUST. DIDN’T. HAPPEN.

And as I said … this is NOT the first time I’ve woken up to a messed up clock.

Not fun!

Knock it OFF, Ghosts! If I’m late for work, or the kids are late for school, I don’t think the boss or teachers are going to accept ‘my ghost messed with my clock’ as an acceptable excuse.

Yeah.

Not so much.


Freakin’ Ghosts! Messin’ with my head! AND my clock!

But ... according to my co-worker … I just need a new clock ... ;-)

K.

Bite Me, Tree! You too, Earl! You Owe Me A Bike Rack!

Around here, people started talking about Hurricane Earl about a week before he (sort of) hit.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining that it wasn't worse than it was.

I just think that since Hurricane Juan, in 2003, people in Nova Scotia have a heightened sense of awareness, of just how much damage one of those 2+ category suckers can do.

So, in comparison to Juan, Earl who was either a tropical storm, or cat 1 depending on who you talk to or what you read, was thankfully on the weak side.

Somewhat like our experience with Bill, last year.


Throughout the week, people followed Earl on Stormpulse, and prepared.

I was one of them, to a certain degree :-)

I wasn't like the couple in front of me at the grocery store, who left with $400 worth of 'just in case' groceries and supplies.

But by Thursday night, I was ready for the expected landfall on Sat...


I had canned food, snacks, water & juice.

Rope to tie down the trampoline, new flashlights and a new little gadget to hopefully cook the mini ravoli on, if we lost power ;)

Check out the tiny little 'stove' I picked up at the Dollar Store.

I figured, 'What the heck?'.

For $2, if we need it, and it works, WOOHOO!

If not, I'm out the price of a coffee, learn my lesson and we have PB&J.

Turns out we didn't need it.

However, when Johnny's* mom later picked him up, I showed it to her, and she happens to have one too!

They WORK!

She said she had used it to make breakfast for four, last time they went camping.

Alrighty then! Looking forward to trying this little baby out during the NEXT hurricane!

LOTS of batteries (which I forgot to take a pic of) ...

& candles.

I was either ready for Earl ... or a really good night with myself!

Bring it ON, Baby! ;-p

The next morning, around 9:30am, Adam was invited down the street to a friend's house.

It was raining, and windy, but certainly not too bad to go out in.

I dropped him off, and about 45 minutes later had just finished taking the hash browns out of the oven for brunch, for Alec and his friend Johnny*, when the power went out.

It was raining ... hard, and the wind was now roaring through the trees like they were nothing more than blades of grass.

I've got to say, for about an hour, it was pretty wild to watch!

Alec, Johnny* and I were sitting at the table, only about 10 minutes into the meal, when a sound drew me to the living room window.

Something out of the corner of my eye made my brain go ...'What the ?!?!?'

There was a piece of a tree sitting on the back end of my car!

DAMN!

From the angle I had at the window, it looked like a HUGE portion of the tree between the neighbours house and mine had fallen on the back ass of my car.

I couldn't tell if there was any damage.

I ran outside for a closer look.

Bad idea.

The rain was not only falling hard and fast, but ... sideways and diagonally.

Five second inspection, resulting in a 'OK, doesn't really seem too bad', and I was soaked.

Suddenly a HUGE gust of wind shook everything around me, and I heard a loud snap.

I looked up at the tree the car and I were under.

Bad idea.

It was swaying, and cracking, and leaning and ...

I was ducking and running back to the house lol.

After a few minutes, seeing as I was already soaked, and I knew I'd have to get pics of this, simply to memorialize the fact that CRAP like this happens to me, I ran back out with the camera.

AND moved the car.

After I was back in the house, another branch fell.

That snap I heard perhaps?

After the rain stopped, I was was able to get a good look at it.

I couldn't believe it! The bulk of it had barely touched more than the bumper!

The back windshield, intact.

The trunk, intact.

The bike rack, on the other hand? May it rest in peace.

Seriously. The bike rack took the WHOLE impact of the piece of tree that fell on it.

And I say piece, because that sucker was alot bigger than just a branch!

Thankfully the piece that landed on the rack was only a portion of THAT.

Looking at it from the window, my only concern was that the bike rack might have been pushed down into the trunk a bit, possibly denting it.

Once the boys got the tree off, and we later removed the rack, I could see that it had only slightly dented the trunk in two places.

The bike rack was completely warped on one side. Unusable.

UGH! Bite me, Tree! You too, Earl! You owe me a bike rack!

However ... That I could definitely live with.

Could have been MUCH worse, had it gone through the front or back window.

And here's the funny thing.

When I got back from dropping Adam off at the friends house earlier, I parked the car a few feet ahead of where I normally do.

Not realizing at the time that I was doing it.

Later, standing there, looking at the position of the branch and the position of the car, I realized that had I stopped where I usually do when I back in, that thing would have most likely come down on the back window.

Hopefully not through it, but that's definitely where it would have landed.

Thank you, Sixth Sense.

Four houses in a row lost parts of their trees, that I know of.

A big branch landed on the roof of the house next door.

There were branches in everyones yards.

One neighbour had a chainsaw going as soon as the rain stopped, and by 3:30, the mess in my yard was cut and gone :-)

And the neighbour who owns the tree, took the bike rack to try and fix it.

I told him not to worry about it, as the season is almost over anyway and I'd just get a new one next year.

He insisted I give him a shot ... I said sure.

Today, Earl was let off the hook.

I arrived home this afternoon, and as I was getting out of the car, Mr Neighbour pops out from behind the hedge with a 'Helloooooo', hoping not to scare me;

... and scaring the shit out of me!

Once I got my breath back, checked to make sure I wasn't wearing my coffee and he stopped chuckling, he gave me this ...

At first, I thought he'd fixed it.

Not so.

It was a new one he picked up at a yard sale this morning.

For $5.

WOOHOO!

Gotta love yard sales!

Gotta love nice neighbours who wouldn't accept the $5 I wanted to give him ;-)

And yes, all the pieces are there, fully functional and safe.

It's awesome.

In better shape than the old one.

Thank you, Mr Neighbour!

Earl? You can still bite me!

Hope everyone has a safe hurricane season!

K.

*Johnny is Alec's friend who slept over the night before the storm, but of course that's not his real name.