An Idea Is Bulletproof

How do I always get myself into these random adventures? Seriously!

Today I dropped by Neal's place and then we headed to the Spin Gallery to pick up our paintings (*yay*) Mine had made it's trip back from B.C. (thanks Joel :) ) and Neal's was just all paid for. All was good.

We got our paintings, mine was the right one all of the way back from BC! I bought my second one and got a nice deal on it AND they let me take it home today even though it's not paid for until next week. Very sweet. We chat for a bit then head back to Neal's place so I can pick up some records he wanted me to donate to Value Village for him. On our way up Church St. Neal remembers his friend has just moved into a building there so he calls, his friend is in and we go to stop by for a few minutes...

Now the building is under construction still. The elevator was still just plywood walls, it ran, and looked safe, just it wasn't finished yet. People just started moving into the lower floors, upper floors are still all uninhabitable. His friend lived on the second floor, and we go to take the elevator up (which sounds lazy but I didn't see a stairway... and I walk everywhere else these days lol) and then the elevator does not let us off at the second floor.... we were stopped there for quite some time but the door wouldn't open at all. Which was funny, until it lasted more than a minute... then not so much with the funny. It was great that Neal is totally not one to panic because being stuck in an elevator isn't bad for me, but when there might be a chance of dropping, that's when I start to freak out.

We shall backtrack for a moment to mention that my parents talked me into riding that Tower of Terror ride in MGM studios by telling me that for sure it wouldn't drop the whole 13 stories, it would just be mostly simulation. Lies, all lies. I was so terrified of dropping after that ride that A. I made everyone spend a good hour out of the day just sitting down until I could feel my legs again, and B. I refused to go on Splash Mountain the next day regardless of the fact that I love the Briar Rabbit stories. I do not like the idea of dropping in an elevator at all. This is up there in my hysterical fears, along with clowns, only this one is much more sensible.

So back to present day, Neal and myself, stuck in the elevator, which suddenly starts lurching every few minutes and when it does the display reads that we've suddenly gone up 3-4 floors each time. So we hit the help button, had a very helpful lady who said she was sending someone right away.... We're waiting, and lurching and according to the display still going higher. Neal insisted that we weren't going up at all. I insisted that we were. By this time I was sitting on the floor, with my Slean art work in my lap and bracing my arms on either side of the elevator. Totally not liking the little lurches that are going on.. oh and the beeping, it was beeping at us too.

There are 28 floors plus the Penthouse floor in this building... so by the time we hit 20 I'm fully freaked out as to what happens when we get to the top.... so we called the help person again, and got a guy who was not so helpful. He didn't even know what city we were in. As we were giving him the info the doors opened finally and we just booked it off of the elevator, only to realize we'd gone all of the way up to the Penthouse floor! 29 freaking stories up! The moral of the story: Elizabeth knows when the elevator is moving, also don't ride in sketchy looking elevators.

Neal had cell service up there at least so we admired the view (beautiful, but oh so high up and so scary to think of dropping from there!) and he called his friend to let him know what had happened and that we'd be taking the stairs down. We did wander around a little just to see what it was like up there... it's still very much a construction site. Really really dusty and messy. However the apartments downstairs were very nice and his friend was great and gave me a drink so I calmed down a little. I still feel a little panic-y now but all is well. We are all home safely. I have my two beautiful paintings, and I survive to start my new job tomorrow :)

But seriously, how do I manage to get into these situations? I now really do understand why my favourite prof in LU would consistently be amused my my random adventures.

**eta** On our way out we did not take the elevator... and as a consiquence ended up having to go out this side door (the doors to the lobby were locked... so I guess we coudln't have taken the stairs up anyway) and ended up trapped in a construction site. I was about to attempt climbing over the fence when the building security pointed us to a fairly hidden exit lol. Where was he when we got stuck in the elevator and then ended up on the top floor of his building I do not know LOL.

Rant of the moment when promoters/venues etc wont give you the information you need to attend an event. We're looking up Spin Gallery stuff to maybe organize a Passioneers go to the art show day BUT their website doesn't even show the hours the gallery is open. I can find the hours the parking is available across the street but the gallery hours, not so much. It's driving me crazy. And they never did email me back the first time I emailed to see if I could get any info about the Slean/Upperton art show. How do you expect people to go if you flat out avoid giving them any information?

Since Andrea needed to book the time off tomorrow I had the idea of calling the gallery now (well at 1:48am) to get their machine and see if that had the hours of operation on it. And a freaking person answered! It's almost 2am, and now someone is available?! Perhaps these crazy late hours are why no one was around when I was calling them at 11am a couple of weeks ago. Still, seriously?! So random!

I also really dislike the way Hillside (oh yes this is a leftover rant from the summer and probably an early rant for next summer) holds back the info on which days the artists are performing in order to sell more of the three day passes. So by the time they announce when everyone is playing the show is sold out. This makes no sense for the following reasons:

a. the 3 day passes are a deal, so financially you want more people buying one day passes or even two day passes
b. anyone who has any common sense knows it's not true when you say you have no idea when any of the artists are playing. A FEW might be undecided but it's a well run festival, not an crap thrown together thing, people know who is playing when well in advance.
c. clearly it is a lie that you don't know when the artists are playing when the artists themselves know and post the dates on their websites or let fans know via email.

It's just an annoying practice and it really makes me want to avoid the festival altogether. The same way that my experiences thus far with the Spin Gallery... not being able to find their hours, being all but hung up when they find out I'm not media etc makes me not want to go to exhibits there. I remember Mr. deVries talking to us once about how art gallerys were generally snobby to teenagers (this was back in highschool) and my friend Dell had just been yelled at in a gallery for no real reason. And his point was that when places do that it's terrible for buisness. Yes, right now I may not be able to help fund your gallery or buy some art but in the future I will be able to and I'll remember these experiences and give my money to someone else. Clearly if I had the cash I'd want to buy a Slean painting right now BUT if I could do that I'd be finding another way to do so, not giving the gallery any profit. It's the only thing really I as a consumer can do, take my buisness away, but I will do it.