Fall Break and Roca Scary Farm

Hi, everyone!

I meant to post on Thursday, but things kind of got away from me.  Last week was fall break, so Jesse and I didn't have school on Monday and Tuesday.  We had a pretty lazy weekend.  We did some cleaning, I got one homework assignment done (yes, just one), and we cooked a large batch of chili.

On Monday evening, we went down to Roca, NE with my new friend and office mate, Ursula.  We met our friends Dene' and Paul there, and together we experienced the Roca Scary Farm.

The "scary" stuff didn't start until the sun set, so first we walked around a bit and stopped in some of the haunted houses on site.  We didn't go in the circus haunted house, because I didn't want to see any creepy clowns, but we did stop to take this photo:

 

There was also a high schooler dressed as a clown that ran passed us howling, "Mr. Milspaughhhhhh!"  One of Jesse's students, apparently.

We decided to first tackle the scarier of the two attractions, The Pyschopath.  We waited and waited as the line began to form behind us.  I kept saying, "Alright... It's dark enough now!" but they waited until the sun was completely gone to open the gates.  But this fun-loving guy kept us company as we waited:

The Pyschopath, as you can imagine, is a scary path through the woods.  It began with a walk across a long bridge, so you felt like you were being transported to this other place.  There were many dark corners for people to hide in and jump out at you.  There were also shacks positioned on the path for us to walk through.  Of course there was a circus themed one, since I was attempting to avoid anything circus themed.  The path also housed the brother of the dragon pictured above.

Dene' hid behind Paul the entire time, and Ursula and I had steadfast Jesse to watch over us.  Ursula also gripped my hand most of the time.  I wasn't too scared for most of the path, but I let myself get into the fun of it and was nervous and scream-y.  One shack really got to me though.  It was a sort of meat locker area with body bags hanging from the ceiling.  One of the workers ran through the room and the body bags started swinging and hitting me.  I was screaming in my head "Get me out of here!"

The absolute best part of the path was right at the beginning.  We were making our way deeper and deeper into the woods, and all of a sudden a dark figure appeared before us.  In a low, creepy voice he rattled, "Aaaaammmmyyyyy."  I flipped.  "He just said my name.  How did he know my name???"  I found out a couple days later that it was one of my current German 101 students, Jacob.  Nice work, Jacob.

Finally, we were safe and sound outside the path.  We grabbed a little something to eat.  Jesse and I introduced Ursula to funnel cake, and we also ordered a couple nice, hot drinks to sooth our nerves.  Then we got in line for the haunted hay rack ride.  We waited for a while, so we had some time to chat and just hang out.

The hay rack ride was not nearly as bad as The Pyschopath, but it was interesting and surprising that the workers jumped up on the hay rack and went down the aisle to scare people.  There were some who yelled and tried to make you jump, but there were others who tried to stare you down with dead eyes, which was sometimes even more affective.  And of course, there was the traditional chainsaw guy.  Ursula was holding my hand so hard, and every time someone jumped out at the hay rack, I could feel her entire body shutter.  Poor girl!

All in all, it was a really fun night.  I'm glad I had the idea to go down to Roca.  It was fun hanging out with friends and introducing Ursula, who is from Germany, to Halloween.  She later said that she had a good time, even though she was a bit scared.  She also said that she has had this experience once now, and she doesn't have to do it again.

Here are a couple pictures of our group.  (Sorry, Dene', you somehow ended up blurry in both of the pictures!)

That's Dene' and Paul, Ursula in the back, and Jesse being scared.

In the Beginning... Part III

Alright, in our last post we talked about the first time we met in person and our first date, so we continue with what happened the very next day...


Jesse - The next day I met Amy and her mom over at UNL.  I remember Amy was very nervous about her dance audition.  She was so nervous she didn't even eat any breakfast, so I went out and got her a variety of fruit so she could eat something after the audition.

Amy - Jesse had to spend a couple hours alone with my mom while I was in my dance audition, which must have been kind of awkward.

Jesse - Yeah...  Yeah.

Amy - It was so sweet afterwards when he gave me the fruit, though.  Oh, and then our parking garage was on fire.  We were sitting in Wendy's having some lunch when a couple firetrucks drove past.  We joked, "It looks like they are heading for the parking garage.  LOL."  Apparently we were right.

Jesse - A car in the parking garage above Applebees had caught on fire, and it was actually only three stalls away from where we were parked.  So we ended up spending an hour or two sitting in the Lied Center lobby watching the firemen put out the fire.  While we were hanging out in the lobby, Amy's mom happened to see us kiss.

Amy - We were trying to be sneaky.

Jesse - More awkwardness.

Waiting for the parking garage to be not on fire, my mom took a photo of us.

Amy - So that was the first time we hung out together.  I also came down to Nebraska in March with a couple friends to visit and see Jesse in MacBeth.  Then Jesse came up to visit me a couple times over the summer.  He came to my graduation and my dance recital.  We finally became "official" when I moved to Nebraska for college.

Jesse and I at my graduation.  Don't we look happy?

Jesse - We got engaged that January.  Amy had just gotten back from Christmas break in Wisconsin and we were exchanging presents.  The last present I gave her was her engagement ring.

Amy - Which was gorgeous.  I still look at it and think about how beautiful it is.

Jesse - Then we went to dinner at Red Lobster.  That is the only time that either of us have ever eaten there.  I don't have a huge desire to go back, actually.  We have found better places to eat.  Old Chicago, for example.

Amy - We had a fairly long engagement.

Jesse - About three and a half years.  We mainly wanted to make sure Amy had a chance to finish college.

Amy - And save up some money for a nice wedding.  And our wedding was amazing, but perhaps that is a story for a different time.

Jesse - Yep.  So that is the condensed story of our relationship.

Amy - The moral of the story: Meeting someone online can be creepy or it can be the start of something wonderful.

Jesse - But mostly creepy.

THE END

In the Beginning... Part II

When we last left our heroes, they had started their relationship online and over the phone and were about to meet in person...


Jesse - Eventually, Amy decided to come check out UNL.

Amy - I was interested in UNL because of the dance program; I really wanted to be a dancer at the time, so one weekend in January my mom and I drove down for a tour of campus and dance major auditions.  That's when I finally met Jess face-to-face.

Jesse - So when we met, it was in the parking lot of the scuzzy hotel Amy's mom reserved a room in.  Really guys, it was bad.

Amy - I think that hotel's closed now.  Or at least renamed and under new ownership.

Jesse - And for good reason.

It looks harmless... but beware!

Amy - So anyway, Jesse pulled up shortly after Mom and I arrived, and I scuttled excitedly over to his car.

Jesse - So I pull into a parking stall and I'm putting my car into park.  I glanced up, and Amy was sitting on the pavement with her head thrown back, laughing.

Amy - I had failed to notice a patch of ice, slipped, and landed hard on my hip.  There was a nice bruise the next day.  But Jesse seemed to think me falling was adorable.

Jesse - It was pretty cute.  And then we decided to go on our first actual date.

Amy - Wait, that was the next day...  Oh, the night I got there we exchanged Christmas presents!

Jesse - Oh, that's right.  You're always right, Amy.  (Jesse may or may not have said this.)

Amy - I gave Jesse the aforementioned scarf I had been working on for weeks, and Jesse gave me a claddagh ring I still wear to this day.

The ring Jesse gave me (left) and the ring my mom gave me when I was younger and had just found out about claddagh rings and begged her for one (right).  The heart is for love, the hands are for friendship, and the crown is for loyalty.  How you wear the ring reflects if you are taken or single.  Another fun fact: I tied both of these rings around my bouquet with a ribbon when Jesse and I were married for my "something old."

Jesse - After we exchanged Christmas presents, we shared our first kiss.

Amy - It was so romantic.  We had been talking online and on the phone for months, and we just knew we would connect when we finally saw each other in person.  And then the next day, after my campus tour, we went on our first date.

Jesse - For our first date I went and picked up Amy from the hotel and we drove around trying to decide what to eat.

Amy - I saw a Godfather's Pizza, which I hadn't seen since I was a kid because most of them have closed in Wisconsin, and I got really excited about the idea of eating Godfather's Pizza again.

Jesse - So I said, "Why don't we go ahead and get a pizza?"  I let Amy pick the toppings.  Ham and mushrooms, if I remember correctly.

Amy - Probably.  That is one of my favorite combos.

Jesse - Then we took the pizza back to my townhouse and we sat and watched How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days while we ate some pizza.

Amy - Some people on that date ate more pizza than others.  Jesse apparently was so nervous that he could only eat one piece, but I was starving, so I think I ate about three.

Jesse - While we watched the movie, we snuggled on the futon.

Amy - It was a very nice date.  Jesse was very sweet.

Jesse - After the movie I took her back to the hotel room.

Amy - I had to get some sleep for my dance audition the next day.  In the car we listened to the mix CD I made Jesse...


Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion of...  In the Beginning!

In the Beginning... Part I

Hey, everyone.

As a reward for continuing to read our blog you get... the story of our relationship!  Or is it a punishment?  We haven't decided.

Amy - Anyway.  Our story begins...

Jesse - ...as so many do: on the internet.  Actually, I don't think it's fair to say we met on the internet.  It's really Tony's doing.

Amy - Yeah, it's Tony's fault.  Look at this face.  You can just tell he's mischievous...

As you can see, Tony often visited the Renaissance Faire in southern Wisconsin when he was in high school, and that is where he met Amy.  Amy and her family were performers at the Ren. Faire every summer, and Amy was part of a group called the Bristol Buskin Frolic.  Tony's friend David was also a part of that group, and that is how Amy met Tony in the first place.

Embarrassing.

After high school, Tony decided to go to college at Nebraska Wesleyan University, where he met Jesse.

Actually after we met.  We'll talk about that scarf later.

Jesse - The fall of Tony's sophomore year he wanted someone to drive from Wisconsin to Nebraska with him, so I hopped a train and went up to Wisconsin for a few days.  Worst.  Train ride.  Ever.
While I was up visiting Tony, he decided to show me around his old stomping grounds.  One of these places was, of course, the Ren. Faire.

Amy - Tony's plan was to introduce Jesse to me...  But I wasn't there.  I was on a trip with my family in Indianapolis.  So I didn't meet Jesse that day.  But I was curious about this friend of Tony's, so I added Jesse on Facebook, and soon after that, he sent me a message.


Jesse - At first I wasn't quite sure what to say, but I figured I would get to know her.  I started asking all the basic questions: What's your family like?  What do you like to do for fun?  Etc.

Amy - After a while we decided to talk on the phone.  By this point I was constantly checking my messages to see if Jesse had written me back, so I got the message that contained his phone number right away, and with shaking hands, I called him up.

Jesse - All of a sudden I heard my phone ringing and I thought "Already?"  (Jesse keeps saying that it was creepy that I called so soon, but I'm just going to leave that part out - Amy.)

Amy - We were that couple who would talk on the phone for hours and eventually not have much to say. 

Jesse - Eventually, Amy decided to come check out UNL....


Well, that's all for now...  Tune in next time for the continuation of In the Beginning!

Gaelic Storm!

Well, the post about the story of our relationship will have to wait, because last night we saw Gaelic Storm in concert!

If you don't know Gaelic Storm, do yourself a favor and check them out, especially if you love Irish-style music.

I think it was my... fourth (?) time seeing Gaelic Storm in concert, and last night was one of the best Gaelic Storm concerts I have seen.  The band was super energetic and funny.  I was laughing so hard over some of the stories.  As usual, they asked for audience participation, and since Jesse, Josh, Ursula, and I were sitting in the very last row on the ground floor, we were able to stand up and dance all we wanted without feeling too embarrassed.  They also played some of their newer songs, which I had never heard or only heard a couple times, and I really enjoyed them.

Here are a couple photos I took with Ursula's phone.  I apologize; they are rather blurry...

You can really see the lighting in this photo.  Sometimes those beams of light would move around though, and it was really distracting.  I was not a fan.

In this picture you can really tell that the violinist was preggo!  Just picture her dancing around the stage playing her fiddle.  Adorbs.

Oh, and the lead singer got out his hard shoes and danced!  I had never seen him do that in concert before, and it was awesome!

Then we went to Applebees and I split a triple chocolate meltdown with Ursula.  It was a great night.  I don't have a picture of the dessert or of Ursula, really, but I will leave you with a picture of Ursula's hand in honor of National German Week:

Until next time,
Amy

Jesse's Introduction

Hey there everyone!

As my wife Amy has said, my name is Jesse. I am from Boelus, NE and I have been living in Lincoln, NE since 2002. I went to elementary and high school at Centura public schools, graduating in 2002. After graduation I went to school at Nebraska Wesleyan University where I got my undergraduate degree in theater arts and communication, secondary education and got an endorsement in language arts. I am very new to this whole blogging thing, so bear with me.

Me in a production of MacBeth at Nebraska Wesleyan in 2007

I am a man of many interests. I love literature, movies, cooking, exercise, and everything dealing with comics. I have a library that spans many subjects, covering everything from how to build a tuner car to the history of the opera. I have a large theater script collection and many fantasy books, but my favorite part of my library would have to be my antique books. I have dozens of old leather bound classics.

My movie collection is something that I could see myself blogging about fairly regularly. I have over 700 dvds in my collection, the crown jewel of which would have to be my 75+ comic book movies. I love superheros and everything to do with them. I am always looking for great titles to expand my collection. Feel free to post any suggestions for me!

Amy and I have been cooking a lot over the first year of our marriage. We will tell the cute story of how we worked to create our cookbook some time. It has been an amazing journey with food. I have found so many great new things that I love to eat now.

Cornish hens over winter vegetables with cornbread croutons

We have gotten into running lately and have already ran a couple 5K runs. I'm sure there will be more to come about that as Amy continues to find fun new venues in which to compete. She is always challenging me, mostly in a good way. :)

One of my bigger passions (outside of my marriage of course) would have to be comic books. I am a relatively late comer into the world of comics. I didn't grow up reading them. Heck, I didn't even pick up a comic until I was probably a junior in high school. However, the first one I ever read, The Death Of Superman, had me hooked. Such an amazing story of sacrifice and selfless bravery. It's easy to see why he is considered the perfect human ideal.

I recently picked up a sweet 45th anniversary edition of Action Comics No. 1.  The cool thing about my copy is it was published the year I was born.  It's meant to be.

I could go on and on, but I think I should wrap up this introduction. Thanks for the one or two of you that might give this a passing glance. Again, I'm new to this whole blogging thing, so be patient as I try to figure this out!