Once again, I heart PBS!

I'm watching a 3-part PBS documentary called Craft in America. It's great!

It began with a 90- year-old furniture maker who makes the most incredible rocking chairs. I want one but could never afford it. He makes lots of other funriture but those chairs are drool worthy.

Next was a basket maker. She learned the craft from her family, grew up, went to work, had to quit then went back to basket making as a way to supplement her family income. That was the beginning of her career. She learned from her mother who learned from her mother who had learned from her mother who made baskets as a slave. Basket makers were viewed as more valuable slaves because large baskets were needed for harvesting. Basket making was a family affair, the men harvesting the grass and the women and children would weave. Because they worked as a family they were less likely to be separated. The featured basket maker has taught her daughter and granddaughter how to make the family baskets as well as her original designs. Her work is incredible.

Then there was the cranky ex-hippie furniture maker who started out crafting roach clips for the hippies at Haight-Ashbury back in the 60's. He made me laugh when he shook his head and said "God bless the hippies. They loved anything that was ugly." I'd say his is the most irreverent work featured in the first episode. It's fun.

Next up was a blacksmith (I'd recently been wondering if there were any Smithys left... don't ask me why.) He dropped out of high school to take over a blacksmith's shop and went on to make fantastic art. One deco styled gate is a wonder. He explained the African tradition of blacksmiths crafting a hammer for their son and taking a fragment of their own hammer and melting it with that of their son's. Each strike of the son's hammer then carries the weight of past generations with it.

A native American basket maker is also featured. She explained the story telling woven into each basket. I was suprised to realize I actaully knew a lot of the stories. Her cool work is now shown in museums.

All three episodes air tonight but I'm sure it will be repeated. If all else fails there's always Netflix. They're bound to offer it soon.

And while we're talking about PBS documentaries, how cool is this gonna be? I heard Mr. Burns has taken an interesting approach on this one. I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

Duh duh...duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh doodledee!!!

Today I stumbled upon the Jaws-a-thon showing all day on Encore. Over and over they aired Jaws, Jaws II, Jaws III and Jaws: The Revenge. Personally, I don't give a hoot about anything after Jaws.

I was enjoying the famous scar comparison scene when my niece (5) and nephew (8) walked in. I asked Little Man if he'd ever seen Jaws and was horrified to hear he'd only seen Jaws II but not the original. *GASP* There is something wrong in this world when an 8 year old boy hasn't seen Jaws. Mom waked in and scolded me for letting the kids watch it. When I told her she'd taken my brother and I to see it when we were about the same age as the kids, she insisted that my bro and I had seen it in Jr. High School. Like every other reasonable person in the world, we saw Jaws in the summer of '75. That means I was 9 and my bro was 7 and it was great. I still remember standing in line to see it at the "big theater" and the 2 hour wait was so worth it.

I wandered off for a while leaving the kids to watch the movie. I later overheard my brother say to the kids "OH! Best part! The shark bites the Captain in half... its great!" A few of us crowded in my bedroom to watch "the best part". I'd forgotten about the blood spurting out of Quint's mouth as he's chomped in half. Yuck! Probably not the best thing to let Little Miss see. She quickly learned to stay out of the room when "that music" was on. Smart kid.

Later, Mom went on to describe the opening scene in graphic detail. Sheesh! Because it was a Jaws-a-thon, Little Man got to see that famous scene right before they left for home. He kept watching and didn't want to leave. Thank God! I don't know what I would have done if he hadn't liked Jaws. Seriously, it's a deal breaker.

I look forward to stalking the kids around the house glumly repeating "You're gonna need a bigger boat."

I'm now watching it again and have decided that anyone who whines that Spielberg isn't all that great, can stick it. As far as I'm concerned anyone having anything to do with the making of Jaws is ok in my book.

In honor of that (and the following bi-centennial) summer, I'm making this hat for my brother. He'd asked for it a while ago but I didn't think I could do it. I'm now confident that it can be done. He's requested a Pabst Blue Ribbon theme. I don't suppose anyone out there will drink the beer for me? I asked my dad and he wrinkled his nose in distaste at the offer. Looks like I'll be pouring the stuff down the drain but it's for a good cause: to make my brother look like a jackass on the Fourth of July. Sign me up!

A Memorial Day PSA

I'm a reasonably patriotic person. I say reasonable because I'm not blindly patriotic. I don't think we are always right and everyone else is always wrong. I believe we hold ourselves to a higher standard and when we lower those standards we lower the standards of the world. I believe our country is a great experiment in democracy and I'm usually proud of where I come from. I feel it's our duty to question our government and keep an eye on it. We should never forget just who the politicians work for.

But I'm not here to bitch about current affairs. I'm here to bitch about a pet peeve that has tormented me most of my life. My problem? Flag etiquette. Somewhere along the line (probably after the sixties) well meaning Americans threw flag etiquette out the window. I learned about it, by the third grade, in school.

So, once and for all, here are some of the rules for displaying the American flag. There is a law in place outlining the display and care of the flag. If you're interested in the details, here is the Flag Code. Will you get arrested for messing up the rules? Unless you're really asking for it, probably not. It's mostly a matter of respect. So, if in celebration of Memorial Day you plan to be a drunken-freaky-flag-waving-American, at least get it right.

For instance, most folks know the flag shouldn't touch the ground but did you know it's supposed to be illuminated at all times while displayed? People, for the love of God (and country) take your flag down when the sun sets. Unless you have an artificial light source for your flag, ya gotta take it down when it gets dark.

Again, I don't tend to be a flag waving freak but for God's sake could we all please do this right? It's a simple request. I'm begging y'all... please!

Miss Understood

When my step-grandmother (Olga) died, my folks and I flew to Texas for her funeral and to wrap up her affairs. After the funeral we visited with her incredibly kind neighbors then took a look around her house. I fell in love with a family victrola she kept in a bedroom and insisted that we keep it. It's still in my Mom's cousin's garage but I swear we'll have it shipped out here and refurbished one day. There was also an incredible desk that I would have loved to take but how was I supposed to get that thing home? Somehow a victrola seemed do-able but not a desk.

Anyway, Mom and I were going through Olga's dresser, and what seriously must have been the world's biggest collection of costume jewelery, when we came across a rather odd piece of jewelry. Olga was originally from Germany and came to the US with her parents after WWII. Once here, she married a US Army veteran but we never knew much about him or how he died. Nor did we know much about her childhood and teens years in Germany. Don't ask don't tell right? Can you guess where I'm going here? Yup, Mom and I found a rather delicate gold and ruby swastika necklace. So small and delicate, in fact, that it probably belonged to a child. Our reaction was as you would expect, I sort of gasped and mom ominously whispered "Oooooo" (think minor key here). Well really, what do you do with that sort of creepy artifact? We knew we couldn't leave it there. We certainly didn't want to sell it but also didn't ever want it found in our home once we were gone. It's not like we could take it to a jeweler to be melted down and transformed into something else. Again, how could you explain the damn thing? The next thought was how do you get a thing like that home? Ultimately, we checked it in our luggage and hoped it wouldn't be found during a security search. Once home, Mom put it somewhere and forgot about it.

Several years later, after a visit to the Museum of Tolerance I decided we should donate the necklace to the museum. They have a disturbing collection of Nazi "memorabilia" and the necklace would fit right in. I figure by donating it nobody would personally profit from it, which would bother me. Most importantly, in this way , it wouldn't end up in the wrong hands. Even if the museum didn't want it, they might have a suggestion as to what we should do with it.

Today, I was thinking about the necklace, possibly because it's Memorial Day weekend, and asked mom where it was. She said she thought I had it. Uh oh. Where the heck could it be?! I rummaged through Mom's jewelry and couldn't find it anywhere. Oh dear. What happens if it's found and no one is around to explain it? Awkward!

Although I didn't find the necklace, I did find some other family heirlooms that need some explaining.

My Grandfather worked for an oil company for most of his career. He was stationed in Tripoli, Libya during the sixties. Mom lived with him for a couple of years and was an elementary school teacher to the kids on a US air base. From time to time I run across things from that time in her life. Some of these things have Arabic script on them. Of course, I've no idea what they say but, considering our current administration and social biases, they could, unfortunately, be seen as suspicious. Here are and couple of things I found:

















Can anyone out there translate Arabic? And please, no jokes. I'm just curious about what they say.

(Excuse my ignorance if they are wrong side up. As you can see I took 2 pix of the larger brooch if it helps.)

I also found one of these. I remember Olga sending my brother a bunch of military medals when he was a kid. They were apparently medals her first husband had earned while in service. I suppose she figured all boys like military stuff. I vividly remember the boxes the medals came in and that they were all caefull labeled in her small hand writing. Unfortunatley, that's about all I remember of them.

My favorite find of he day is a bracelet with my Mom's name on one side and "Eddie" on the other. Eddie was a high school boyfriend of Mom's. Every time Eddie's name come up she sings "Eddie My Love". My Grandfather was married a few times which may explain the small pile of gold bands I found. Mom and I just sort of grinned at that. Ya gotta love Grandpa... all the ladies did.

(Disclaimer: Yes, I understand swastikas were once commonly worn as symbols of good luck. No, I don't think all German's are Nazis. However, considering her age and the era my step-Grandmother was born and raised in Germany, odds are her necklace is of Nazi origin. So, all you trolls out there who like to call everyone who dares to mention Germans racist, don't waste your time unless you take the time to actually read a post in it's entirety.)

The right attitude

Yesterday my parents went to watch my nephew play in a baseball tournament. His team played another team that have been playing together since they were five years old. They also happen to have won the Little League World Series when they were 6. My poor nephew's team got creamed.

Well, while this slaughter was going on, my niece was playing with some kids. At one point a boy got hold of her baseball cap and was playing keep away with it. Little Miss grabbed her cap back and sat down with my parents. The boy/bully came over, looked at her and waved his fist in her direction. Apparently Little Miss took one look at him and squealed with laughter. This confused the bully so he waved his clenched fist higher and said "Do you know what this means? It means I'm gonna...". This made Little Miss double over and laugh even harder. I guess the adults were sort of laughing at him too. The bully gave up and never came back.

When mom told me this story she finished with "That's the Auntie Lucy in her."

I'm so proud.

Strange trip

You know how you start poking around online and suddenly find yourself staring at a site and have now idea how you got there? That happens to me all the time. Today, I started with some blog reading and stared at this art for a while. Next thing I know, I'm spending way too much time tripping around this strange site. It's definitely a unique place to visit. The photographs all have a spooky beauty to them but man, you couldn't pay me to wander around a deserted hospital... mental, TB, State or otherwise. No sir-eee. Way too creepy for my blood. All that suffering... it's awful.

Here's the worst part, some of these images look vaguely familiar. I'm hoping it's that I've visited this site before. Otherwise, I may be tapping into some nasty past life, time, space continuum situation... BWHAAA hahahahah!!!

The pix are great but the photographer put his/her life on the line. Some of these places look about 2 seconds from disintegration.

I also found this site and this one.

It's been a strange day. I'm still recovering from watching Deliver Us From Evil last night. It was so disturbing that I had to watch some Pride & Prejudice to get back to my happy place.

Sometimes I make myself LOL

Today, while checking my aol email, an upgrade option appeared. I then noticed my address book entries listed along the side of the window. I vaguely recall entering these addresses about a year ago. Among the names of my friends and family, I saw an entry for "Asshole". Hmm. Who might that be? I don't remember entering an address for my friend Asshole. I clicked on the name and up came this.

I actually laughed out loud.

The interesting thing is that www.whitehouse.gov does not list presdient@whitehouse.gov anywhere on the site. Instead, they offer comments@whitehouse.gov. Check it out. Interesting that the President can no longer be reached directly. It's not like he's ever read comments from we the people anyway.

Commando

Have I ever mentioned Commando?

Commando is the guy that most neighborhoods tolerate. There are a few varieties of Commando, some know the history of the neighborhood going back 100 years, some are incredibly nosy, ours is a super hero. Well, more precisely, a super hero in his own mind. My dad knows the guy because he's the one usually in the front yard watering or gardening so dad knows the neighbors fairly well. Dad says Commando is actually a nice guy, but Commando freaks me out.

Commando wears camouflage pretty much every day. He jogs up and down our mountainous streets backwards. He recently built a fortress-like wall around his home. When a neighbor's house caught fire from a freak power line ignition, Commando came jogging up the street, before the fire fighters, with his backpack on and carrying what appeared to be a canister of oxygen. I'm not sure what he's got in his pack but I'm willing to bet he's packing mace, kryptonite and heat. We're all sure he's got a police scanner and is ready to leap into action at any given moment.


I thought of him tonight because, as I drove off my offramp, I could see a strange red glow in the distance. At first I thought it must be one hell of a party but then thought "Uh oh. Red glow at 11:00 pm? That's not good." Sure enough, the fire engines started flying by and I knew some poor folks were watching their house burn down. The good news is that we have an outstanding fire department, due to the high fire risk in this neck of the woods, and they do a bang up job of saving homes. I hope the damage isn't too bad. Even though we live about a mile from the burning home, I'm sure Commando was there. I'm not sure what he does when he gets there but I know he likes to be where the action is. He's sort of a bad-ass Mrs. Kravitz.

Several months following our terrible brush fires, dad tossed me a video that Commando had "filmed, produced, and edited". Commando apparently got REALLY close to the action and filmed the helicopters and fire fighters in action. My nephew was about 2 1/2 at the time and the tape quickly became his favorite.

I try not to piss off Commando so I give him a little nod or a wave when I see him. I've never spoken to him but I suppose I should. God knows, when the shit hits the fan, I'm gonna want whatever C-Man's got in that backpack.

In honor of Commando, I leave you with one of my favorite little gems that never gets old. Here's to you Commando!

Breakthrough!

I know I have a minuscule readership, and that I risk losing it by harping on the crochet topic, but I have to mention my recent breakthrough.

Mom found a 1974 Leisure Arts Granny Square booklet that claimed to feature "Extra Easy Instructions". I thought "Ok, let's put that claim to the test." I decided to hunker down and figure out a granny square once and for all. I mean COME ON! How hard could this thing be? Enough already.

After the aforementioned elephant man square:


I made a slightly improved square:


and then I had my light bulb moment. I made this square:



and magically, I knew I could do it.


Tonight I made this square:


I'm so excited! I realize it's not neurosurgery but the mystery of this yarn craft thing has been conquered and I'm thrilled. I can even semi-understand charts now. It's a miracle! I'm so glad I didn't let my knitting block keep me down.

Instead of the ripple blanket, which has got to be incredibly repetitive, I've decided to try a granny square blanket (something like this). I'm hoping to gain a sense of accomplishment with each square and therefore maintain momentum. I tend to have the attention span of a gnat so I'm thinking squares are a good way to plow through.

The yarn I've used so far is about 10 years old. Although, I still have a lot of practice to do, I think it's time to go shopping for my extra special blanket yarn.

So that's the update on the crochet obsession. I'll let you know how my progress goes but I'll try to resist non-stop updates as, I know, they can be boring. Honestly these crochet posts have been mostly for Kb and Shandon. I know they appreciate a good craft and can understand my little breakthroughs. Thanks guys!

More findings

I stayed home sick today. I'm a firm believer in nipping an illness in the bud. I'm always happy when I face a cold/flu immediately and stare it down. Today, I was home with aches, pains, runny nose, headache and slight fever. How do I handle such drama? I pop Tylenol and sleep a lot. It's now the end of the day and while I'm still sneezing a lot I otherwise feel better.

Between sleeping jags I discovered a new favorite thing online: Crochet tutorials on Youtube. (Many of you may be sick of the crafty news but, well, too bad. I'm still enjoying it.) Today I learned that if you do a "Crochet" search on Youtube a bunch of nice ladies have uploaded video crochet lessons. Let's hear it for the Internet (again)! I learned to double crochet and took a stab at Granny Squares and a ripple stitch. My granny square looks like an elephant man version of the square you may be familiar with but I'm starting to get the hang of it.

There are also less wordy video tutorials available on Annie's Attic, for anyone who may be interested. Here is the single crochet video. Just click the Quicktime link and hit play. It's only a few seconds but you can play it a couple of times until you've got it down.

That's all for now. I'm off to pop some Tylenol PM.

Sweet dreams.

Unfortunate Discoveries

The other night I set my little practice crochet strip down on my desk for the night and woke the next morning to find this:

Sweet Jesus, I'm crafting a sperm. *sigh*

Well, I decided I would ignore my unfortunate finding and carry on. I've since made a few crochet test patches to get the rhythm down. So far so good. That is until a few minutes ago when I looked down and saw this:



















I mean really, does it get more granny than that? Is it any wonder I felt like watching this tonight?


In the interest of full disclosure, I came home from work early today because I am clearly coming down with a cold. I feel like garbage but everything you see here is actually quite comforting.

As it happens, I embrace the granny within and encourage everyone else out there to do the same. I heart tea, yarn and Bette Davis and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

Happy comfort crafting y'all!!

Yipee!

Because I've got crochet on the brain, I was thinking a ripple blanket might be in order. From this, the source of so much inspiration, I found this! Right about now I start to feel a trance coming on. I fear I may sit here hitting "refresh" all day long and never get tired of it. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

At least it's a distraction from the idea that I may have a problem. I feel the need to do so much of what Posie is doing. She's a complete stranger but she inspired me to do the dreaded bedroom refresh after I saw her new studio. Here it is:


I saw her super cute ripple blanket and wanted to do one for myself. I hope Posie doesn't take up ark building or I'll have to run out and do that too. I find comfort in the fact that I still dislike cats and won't have one lying on my super cute cream/brown/green ripple. Hmm, I'll need a shock of girly color in there won't I? Magenta? Pink? What to do? Well, the "refresh" button calls.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to mine and all others out there.

Bag 'o tricks

So, as mentioned before, I was interested in learning to knit. I sort of learned a bit then read up on crochet and decided that sounded more forgiving and therefore much more fun. I remember making granny squares with my Mom when I was a kid but have no recollection as to how I did it. Today, at my nephew's game, I asked mom if she remembered how to crochet. She said "If I had a hook in my hands I think I could remember." I then said "Maybe I'll go pick one up after the game." She said "No! I have some at home." I then accused her of not knowing where on earth they were. She insisted she knew exactly where and that they were in a little bag somewhere.

Well, she was right. She found this bag (a gift from a friend)...



















Filled with this stash...
















And this incredible little treasure, circa 1959...


Mom and I sat on the edge of my bed and she showed me how to chain stitch. We decided it's best to practice chain stitches for a while then learn new stitches every few days. It's really all about getting used to positioning the hook and yarn in your hands and getting the tension just right. Mom showed me a few different stitches and they all seemed reasonably simple. I just have to remember them all. Here's the product of my first few minutes of chain stitching.








So far I'm right, I prefer crochet to knitting. It feels so much more natural to me. I may have to make this a habit.

God Bless the Internet

As if I don't waste enough time online already. Here's a fun way to kill a few minutes.

What's your favorite?




























Oh, and guess what this beauty is made of.




Give up?


It's made of coffee filters! Wanna know how they're made?


Dontcha just love the net?

New Day

It was time for a change.

(I'll take for a more cheerful header pic later.)

Strange Brew

Last night, while barbecuing dinner, Dad shook his head and commented "Man, Santa Ana winds in May and last month too? It just isn't right."

This morning, when I picked up my carpool buddy, we talked about the weird weather and she said "It's gonna be a long, hard summer."

I think they're both right.

This afternoon I sat at my desk and watched a fire burn up and over the hills near the Los Angeles Zoo. Helicopter pilots dropped water on the flames with amazing precision. Huge clouds of white smoke would fill the air following each drop then turn to a dark brownish orange as the hot, dry winds whipped the remaining flames over more terrain. Santa Ana winds always add an eerie quality to a Southern California day but a brush fire colors and scents it. These fires have a distinct odor. As you would imagine, it smells like a wood burring fire but there is also a sweet, sharp scent mixed in. Some might call it acrid but it's more subtle than that. I've never figured out what it is exactly, maybe sage and eucalyptus, but it's not a nice scent. It's creepy. Like a full moon, the Santa Anas can be awesome but they can bring the crazy out of all of us.


As the fire started, some friends walked outside on their way to a meeting. They smelled the smoke and wondered where the ash was coming from. They looked to the poor smoker who happened to be standing by the door and gave him an extra dirty look. They soon realized their mistake. Brush fire smoke smells nothing like cigarette smoke. Oops!

I'm now safely at home, about 20 miles away, and I can still smell the hills burning. I live in a "high brush fire danger" area. We had a fire rage over the hills above my house a few years ago. A police officer came by and told us there was a mandatory evacuation in place. Dad balked because, knowing the area so well, he felt the fire was still far enough away to get a good sleep in. Besides, the neighbors had been told the evacuation was voluntary. Mom and I decided it was a great excuse to stay at The Ritz but Dad disagreed. We came close to going without him but, in the end, thought it wasn't very nice to leave Dad in our endangered home all alone. We all woke up around 2:00 am because the entire house was lit up in an orange glow. It's so obvious but it's not something you ever think about. Of course a fire will light a place up, you just don't expect a fire, a mile away, to illuminate your home so thoroughly that it wakes you out of a sound sleep. The sun never breaks through the shutters in my bedroom but that fire woke me right up. It also made an enormous sound. Fires that size truly do roar. Earthquakes still sound more furious to me but fires are a close second.

Don't get me wrong, I love California. But considering what weather has done to other US cities lately, this is nothing. Still, here I sit, eyes burning, nose running and throat irritated... is anyone out there still California Dreamin?

Before & (almost) After

So my DIY Bedroom refresh is almost complete. Here are some before and after shots, including my beloved lamp that shows the new color fairly well. I still need to choose some things to hang on the walls but otherwise it's pretty much wrapped up.

What did I do with all of the crap on the too-big book case (no wonder I couldn't sleep)? Most of it is packed up in boxes. While the rest of the year will likely be spent hunting through the packed boxes for that book I just have to read, at least I'm half way packed up and ready to move. There is a lot to be said for de-cluttering.

I'm very happy with the results. It's neat and tranquil in here now which is exactly what I was going for. The color frightened me when I first threw a test patch up but I've really come to love it.

What do you think?

Sidebar

Here are a few of the crafty things I'd like to learn to make some day. I promised Shandon I'd show her some pix. Here they are:


























































I'm noticing a theme. Hmm...

Are we grown up now?

I've been working in my grown up job for a while but haven't really presented much. Well, I've done some informal show and tell sort of presenting but nothing too scripted. Lately, I've been given the responsibility of presenting some of our bigger deal projects. They drop super-top-secret presentation material in a super-top-secret online drop box that only I can access through a work server. Once I've downloaded the super-top-secret materials they vanish from my drop box. It's all very high tech and scary. Did I mention the super-top-secret materials have my FULL NAME watermarked across each and every page? Why do they do this? So if it ends up on the Internet they know who to fire.

Holy crap.

Well, yesterday I got a screamin' fast new laptop to do these fancy presentations on. It took the IT guy a couple of hours to transfer my old files to my new laptop. Trouble was, I had to present some of the super-top-secret stuff that afternoon. It had only recently been dropped in my drop box so I didn't have much time to review it. Luckily, I was presenting to a group of people who don't like the typical, corporate, Powerpointy variety presentation.

I walked into the room, looked around and commented "I've never been in a room full of only brunettes!" One said "Yeah, well we die it." I said "It doesn't matter. You're deliberately brunette and I enjoy that!" It was not the most professional kick off to a meeting but it wasn't a corporate, Powerpointy style either. I'm not sure my co-worker (and superior) liked my style but I am what I am. I told them I could run them through some new stuff but I'd only read through it once and that I couldn't read straight from a script. They didn't seem to mind. I wouldn't say it was my strongest effort but I was relieved at how relaxed I was. Before I walked in I had decided my presentation was really like a story time. I'm now a story lady and I can handle that. I only hope that next time I'll be even more familiar with the material and be a story ninja!!

When I'm right, I'm right

The owner of a company I work with wanted to take us out for dinner. He typically likes to take us out to the latest, famous hot spot in Beverly Hills or West Hollywood or wherever. I told him he'd have a better turn out if we kept it closer to the office. He wasn't convinced there were any good restaurants in the Valley. I told him about a place we'd been to for work celebrations then sent him their web site. He agreed that it looked like a fun place. When asked who I should invite, on his behalf, he said "Invite everyone!". Ok. I threw out a call and had 15 takers. Usually we have an embarrassingly high drop out ratio. Tonight, on the other hand, 22 people showed up, including some guy I'd never seen in my life. The big boss decided to bring a couple of co-workers who have nothing to do with this company's business. I felt bad but what could I do? I thanked them at the end of the night for being so generous and flexible. In the end it was a fun night. I got to sit with friends from work who I never have much time to chat with. Oh, but my favorite part is watching people walk into the place. They keep it incredibly dark in there and it takes about 2 minutes for your eyes to fully adjust. I love to watch friends walk in, look right at us, not see us, then hear the laughter. They sort of stumble towards our voices, it's always good for a laugh. Is this mean? Yeah, a little, but it's SO worth the bad karma.