Saturday, December 29, 2007

Happy Holidays to our Friends and Family





Well we are down to our final week here in Detroit. It has been a cold, snowy time but we survived. All of you reading this know that snow and cold are not favorites for me and Chris but we are actually getting used to it and now the weather in New York is just not so bad. We were so ecstatic that Lexi and Joe got to be here with us for the Christmas holiday. They spent seven days here with us and it was the BEST. We had our "little" Christmas tree in the room but "LOTS" of love. It made Christmas away from everyone a lot easier.

We have met some really nice people here in Detroit. We spent Christmas night with a family we met. It was a great time. We are creating friendships along the way that I hope will stay with us for many years to come. Here in Detroit, we visited the Henry Ford Museum. It was awesome! We really enjoyed it. It is not just an auto museum but a museum of generations and all things in it. From the evolution of cars, to the original bus that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, the original car that Kennedy was assassinated in, and the original chair that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in. It was a great experience. Its pretty incredible how much of this city is owned by the FORD family.
We also visited the Hitsville USA museum which is the history of Motown. Christopher learned so much about the beginning of the Motown empire and met several people who are long time Motown stars. We received a special tour with the cast...
We also made our way to Windsor, Canada where one of the cast members is from. He hosted a dinner there. That part of Canada is 20 minutes from our hotel. Like I said, trying to soak up the experiences and make this a life changing event for Christopher.

We have one more week and then we are headed to Pittsburgh. That is going to be a great time. We have people visiting almost every weeked to see the show. Christopher is SUPER excited. Its so special to us to share this experience as well as the show itself. You cant be disappointed with this show. I hope that more of you will attempt to make it to see this. We love company.......we miss our friends and family more than we can express.

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and Holiday season. Most importantly, we pray that the new year is filled with love, happiness, health, and success for each of you.
HAPPY NEW YEAR......2008
See you next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

WOW!! I wanted to look up Christopher after watching Last Nights Lion King!! He was so Amazing!! You could tell he was having an Amazing time which made it even Better for us!! I just want to say That I know ofcourse behind Mom and Dad I am Now one of his Biggest Fans!! I wish My daughter could of seen it with me and I am trying to find a way to make it happen Because That was one amazing show!! Great Job!! Have a Wonderful New Year!! Keep up the GREAT WORK!! Enjoy Detroit and its surrounding citys!! Look forward to seeing him in SO much more!!

Tammi K.
Big Fan

Conscious Trinity said...

I though you all would like this . Keep p the good work Lil man we are counting down the days to Pittsburgh! See you then

Love Uncle Bill and Aunt Suzanne Ragone


The Official Lion King Test

The following is a home test that will determine if you, the reader, are
addicted to The Lion King. Many minutes of excruciatingly elementary research
went into this test, resulting in a highly accurate, portable, and unbiased
(yeah, that means you, freak) method for documenting your true dependency on
"The Lion King".

Taking the test is simple, or so my lawyers tell me. However,
they wanted me to post the following disclaimer:

"Hereby, on the first of January in the nineteen hundred and ninety seventh
year of our lady Nala, we the aforementioned legal aides are to hereby ordered
to provide detailed counciling services regarding one 'Official Lion King
Test'. Should any injury or mental anguish arise due to this test, Ryan
McGinnis, the creator is fully responsible. Due to his inability to pay our
lawyer fees, we are more than anxious to 'get a piece of him'."

And now, on to:
---------------------------------------------------------
"INSTRUKTUNS" (BI Teh Dizney VhidEo box art crue)

Place hand firmly on monitor. Swear allegiance to Disney.

(Whe got this frum the "Daily Procedure" ting here at
Dizney. Prety kewl, huh?)
---------------------------------------------------------

Okay, perhaps my lawyers were wrong... that doesn't seem to help at _all_.
Look, it's really very simple. Just read the question, and if you answer
"yes", then you reap however many points it's worth. If it's no, then you get
no points. Easy, no? Remember, some questions ask more than one question...
and each "sub question" nets you how ever many points it's worth. So, If
you've seen TLK more than 50 times, you get 16 points for question number one.
Super!

"Good Luck"

Begin Test!
-----------

1. Have you seen The Lion King more than once? --1pts
More than ten times? --5pts
More than fifty times? --10pts

2. Did you wear your Lion King VHS tape out? --3pts
Did you buy a new one? --3pts

3. Are you a member of FCOS? --3pts
Did you declare it your legal religion? --15pts

4. Do you consider the concept of drinking coffee out of a
Nala mug blasphemy? --4pts

5. Have you ever forced friends to watch The Lion King? --2pts

6. Have you learned Swahili? --10pts
Using only the online Swahili dictionary? --20pts

7. Do you own the TLK soundtrack in more than one language?
--10pts

8. Do you own Lion King plushies? --2pts
Do you hug them? --(negative 2pts)
Did you buy two sets, and keep one "safe from my unsatiable
cuddlin' desires"? --5pts

9. Have you ever been forcibly removed from the Disney Store?
--10pts

10. Do you own the Deluxe Lion King laserdisc? --10pts
Are you lacking a laserdisc player? --10pts

11. Do you read Lion King fan fiction? --15pts

12. Have you read "Acceptance"? --10pts
Did you feel jealous of Chad? --5pts

13. Do you talk to your Nala plushie? --5pts
Does she talk back? --15pts
Can other people hear her talking back? --100pts

14. Have you ever played out scenes from TLK in your head? --5pts
In your living room? --10pts
On your roof? --25pts
With plushies? (Applies to living room or roof) --20pts

15. Do you refuse to mow your lawn because it's "All part of
the Great Circle of Life" --15pts

16. Do you ever have dreams about lions? --2pts
Other than Nala? --3pts
Really? --1pt

17. Have you ever snatched away a TLK gift meant for your kids,
with the explanation that they could "never appreciate it as
much as their mommy/daddy"? --15pts

18. Have you switched from kissing to licking? --20pts

19. Do you have a TLK webpage? --10pts
Is it better than mine?! --forfeit all points (just kidding)

20. Do you watch Timon and Pumbaa --10pts
Will you openly admit it to fellow TLK fans? -(negative 10pts)

21. Do you own Ugandan Lion King stamps? --15pts

22. Have you ever used the phrase "naughty bunnies" in a sentence?
--10pts

23. Have you ever worn a "fur suit"? --10pts
For intimate purposes? --15pts
With a plushie? --30pts

24. When you see Scar slap Sarabi; do you feel the need to rip
your TV out of the wall and SMASH IT, SMASH IT, *DAMMIT* TO
HELL SCAR, WHY CAN'T YOU *JUST* LEAVE HER *ALONE*?!?!! --15pts

25. Are you laughing right now? --5pts

26. Do you consider pirating software related to TLK to be okay?
--10pts
Did you consult your plushies for this moral dilemma? --10pts

27. Do you emit an audible "YESSSS!" when Simba slashes Shenzi?
--5pts

28. Is your one hope for the human race that they will hurry up
and invent the holodeck so you can get back to where you
belong? --15pts

29. Do you own cats? --5pts
Do you make them hunt for their own food? --10pts
Do you bathe them with your own tounge? --20pts

30. Have you ever driven up to the McDonalds drivethru and shouted
"Aiheu abamni, these burgers are positively _corban_!" --35pts

31. Have you read any books about real lions since seeing TLK? -15pts
More than 5? --20pts
More than 15? --30pts

32. Do you collect merchandise related to lions or other wild cats or
African wildlife? --10pts

33. Have you made vacation plans to visit Africa? --10pts
Have you admitted to yourself that this is just a fancy and could never
come true unless you won the lottery? --(negative ten points)

34. Have you ever gone to the lion exhibit at the zoo and told small children
that "yeah, sure, he may look cute; but if you were on the other side of
those bars, he'd rip you from stem to stern and eat your heart" --10pts
Have you personally tested this theory? --15pts
Did the lions regard you as one of thieir own? --50pts

35. Have you created any fan art? --10pts
Other than Nala sketches? --15pts

36. Have you written any fan poetry? --10pts

37. Do you own "The Art of The Lion King"? --15pts
Do you own two of them? --15pts
Are either the deluxe edition? --30pts
Both? --30pts

38. Have you traveled long distances just to meet a fellow TLK fan? --20pts
Overseas? --20pts
Into a police state? --30pts
Is this, in fact, how you meet all your friends? --40pts

39. Have you tied to get any of your friends to join alt.fan.lion-king or the
TLK mailing list? --10pts
Did they do it? --15pts
Just to shut you up? --15pts

40. Do you use the TLK Muck? --10pts
Do you spend more than 2 hours a day on it? --10pts
Do you spend more time on it than off it? --20pts

41. Do you have any TLK posters on your wall? --10pts
Do you have so many that you can no longer see the wall? --15pts
Did you steal any of them? --20pts, and a smack on the wrist

42. Do you go to see all movies with Jeremy Irons in it, just so you can
"keep your eye on that troublemaker"? --10pts

43. Were you dissapointed by the movie "To Die For", as you thought it had
something to do with TLK? --15pts

44. Have you ever been in the middle of a group discusison about "Hamlet" and
blurted out that "It was done much better in The Lion King!"? --20pts

45. Have you ever asked your mom to be more like Sarabi? --20pts

46. Have you adopted an internet "nickname" that is related to TLK? --30pts

47. Have you ever left your kids home under the care of your pet bird? --
40pts

48. Have you specualted just what Sarafina _really_ meant by "What do you
think, Sarabi?" --20pts

49. Do you think Simba's butt looks cute? (Adult, or young) --20pts

50. Have you ever looked in a Swahili dictionary to find out what the
characters names mean? --15pts

51. Do you own a lion? --30pts

52. Have you ever spoken to any star from "The Lion King"? --20pts

53. Has anyone ever told you that you "need to get a grip on this whole
Lion King thing"? --20pts
Did you hurt them? --20pts

54. Did your friends get you a Nala plushie for your
birthday/Christmas? --20pts
Did you immediatly embrace it screaming "Oh Nala, I _KNEW_ you'd come
for me!!" --40pts
(note, if you prefer, you may replace Nala with Simba or Scar)

55. Have you ever submitted an essay about The Lion King to a magazine?
--25pts

56. Don't you wish you had a tail? --15pts

57. Have you tried to rationalize that what Scar did was merely
a product of years of mistreatment? --20pts

58. Have you ever cried out in a moment of passion "Oh, ZAZU!" -400pts

59. When your company held open house, did all the kids gather around your
cubicle to see the "Lion King Shrine"? --40pts

60. Do you play Wing Commander because the Kilrathi are "hot"? --30pts

--------
End test

You may put down your TLK embroidered pencils now. How did you fare? You
may have felt guilty for having answered no to some of the questions, if so,
give yourself 30 points. Here's the grading scale:

580-600+ Aiheu help you.

500-580 You are hopelessly addicted to TLK, you know it, and you
don't care. If you are a man, you have a long beard
because you refuse to shave with anything other than the
Lion King shaving kit. You would fight barefisted with
any lion any day to defend the honor of Nala. You
think you are in Africa, and constantly roam your house
looking for stray hyenas. Your relatives stopped visiting
long ago after you started "marking your territory" about the
house. You used to stalk Jeremy Irons. You have been excommunicated
from the FCOS for "taking it too damned seriously".

400-500 You are addicted! You probably own all the TLK
merchandize known to man, and it's still not enough for
you. People don't understand your crave for the feline,
but all the same you wish Nala would give up on that
hopelessly boring Simba. If you are female, of course,
it's the other way around. You one day hope to construct
Pride Rock in your back yard. Everything you do, you
confess at the FCOS.

300-400 You might still actually some life outside of "The Lion
King". You may have a significant other, though
you never share your inner secret that you wish he/she was
covered in fur. Sometimes you get the urge to roar... and
you do. You write fan fiction, and have TLK mugs stashed
away in the cupboard. You are thinking of getting a Lion
King tatoo.

200-300 Ah, you have a healthy addiction! You don't fancy yourself
a lion, and you haven't even made your first kill yet.
Most people think you are eccentric (crazy if you're poor),
but Nala only enters your mind when you want her to. If
you have kids, they probably think that you are the coolest
thing since the retraction of prohibition as you will often
dress up as Mufasa and play along with their games.

100-200 You've seen the movie, you liked it, but you think all
these other fans are nuts. You wonder if all this talk of
Nala is a joke, or if they really mean it. You tried
reading a fan fiction once.

0-100 You got your kids the video, and you got them their
damned dressup-Nala dolls, what more do they want of
you?! It's just a kids movie, right?