A Review of Destination Truth: Memoirs of a Monster Hunter

It is summertime, which means that I can somehow find time to work on summer reading lists. I picked up and zoomed through this awesome book in just a few short days. This is no small feat for me between work, mommy duty, and fighting crime (alright, so I made that last part up). At any rate, myself and some of the other members from our paranormal group have been watching SyFy's Destination Truth for years now. Albeit, I have skipped around and missed a few episodes, but for the most part I have been a pretty consistent fan of the show. I won't lie - over time I have grown fonder of the travel highlights on the show more than the actual investigations. I am going to chalk that up to the fact that I do very similar stuff - sit in the dark for hours and wait for something to happen. I just have the option to do it in a comfy climate controlled home or business; and not in a jungle covered in snakes, spiders, and killer creatures. The book covers some amazing behind the scenes stories and tales of adventure that are just hilarious, and down right crazy. Josh Gates is just as entertaining through word as he is on the show.

If you are a fan of the show I would highly recommend this book. If you aren't? 

A-What are you waiting for (hello Netflix unlimited stream) 

and:

B-Read the book anyways, because it will in some way or another, change the way you view a little something called travel. 

       For me it also changed the way I view certain aspects of the paranormal field. I would like to call this a "skeptic revival" of sorts for me. I am inching closer to the 5 year mark for my involvement in the paranormal field. As time has progressed I have gone from 3 parts skeptic: 1 part believer, to 3 parts believer: 1 part skeptic. There isn't enough time in the day to argue with anyone on which of those is healthier. Now, I am not saying that Josh has completely swayed me back to the former, but he does raise some excellent points. He lays out several assumptions for all things paranormal (if you want a full synopsis of such assumptions please check out the book!). He states, "All of our assumptions speak to the larger problem: the methodology of paranormal research is largely experimental." He also makes another excellent point, "There must be repeatable results in order to draw conclusions." That was it, that last point - repeatable results. I can say that in almost 5 years of doing this that audio evidence hasn't perfectly duplicated, personal experiences haven't perfectly duplicated, it is rare occasion that the same exact locations are revisited frequently enough to produce duplicates of anything. 

Is what we do a sham? Absolutely not. I can count numerous occasions where we have legitimately helped clients and their families out. Whether it be with advice, knowledge, or what we know as evidence. For that I cannot say that we have wasted any time. 

        I would also like to point out that the mid section of the book has pictures. Who doesn't like a book with pictures?! It is this section that keeps my 18 month old attempting to steal my copy at all odds so she can drag it around the house making wild animal noises, and sticking cheerios inside its wonderfully crafted pages while looking at said pictures. It was possibly one of the roughest copies Josh has ever had to autograph.

The best part about getting to enjoy this book was the fact that I got to hear one of the most important excerpts from Josh himself. He read a chapter straight from his book for the conclusion of his panel at Through the Veil event. It was rather outstanding. I won't divulge and quote a lengthy portion of that chapter, for that you can buy the book. Chapter 19 will have you hopping up to pack your bags. Follow this link to purchase a personalized autographed copy. Which is almost as awesome as mine.

     Some of us PGI ladies with Josh, I am the 

    hobbit to the right:

Disclaimer: I am writing this review of my own free will. Josh didn't pay me with money or travel treasures, I just felt like highlighting an awesome book for our group's blog, as well as my own. No FTC disclosures needed. 

Through the Veil

---disclaimer - this isn't chock full of witty and funny quips, laying that to the side for just a sec.

This past weekend I volunteered for the 4th annual Through the Veil event. In all honesty when I first arrived I was nervous, as this was my first time attending as staff and I really didn't want to mess anything up. Registration was a breeze thanks to my handy dandy iPhone. I checked people in without a hitch. It was neat to help the vendors and guest speakers get settled in to their vendor spots. I would like to point out that I also had a general nervousness about all of the new people. I have been told before that I am either intimidating to a degree, or come off as a bitch to people, which is disheartening to hear because I don't mean to be either. Making new friends isn't my forte. (Which is funny because I actually met a very lovely couple who's last name was Forte this weekend).

That I would say was the one thing I hands down successfully accomplished this weekend, I made some new friends. The energy that these people had was nothing short of amazing. I have come to the conclusion that the reason I have a hard time making friends is because I have a hard time meeting real people that have good intentions. I have been around too many fake people with irrelevant agendas. I got it right this time, not sure how I managed to get there and which steps led to which parts but I am glad because I was at the right place at the right time. Taking a look around online the days after I saw that they had also enjoyed my company, and their sweet messages were so nice that I literally cried at being lucky enough to now know them. 

Tiny bit of background - the paranormal group was how I knew of the event, and we had decided to be a sponsor this year and have a vendor table. The group was lucky enough to host an investigation with Ben Hansen (Syfy's Fact or Faked show). I donated some passenger vans to get everyone to and from and the night went off with nary an issue. 

The guest lineup for this event is always so amazing, there are too many to list. This year was no exception. One new guest that I hadn't seen before was Travis Walton, the man that Fire in the Sky was based on. Brett had mentioned that the movie had really jacked him up as a child, so a few weeks before the event we watched it (thank you Netflix) just for good measure. 

Some of the panels that I had door duty for were also wonderful. I enjoyed seeing Chris Moon and Paulette Huff (some of the most heartfelt tarot readings I have ever seen). Chip Coffey's panel was both hilarious and mind boggling, as he is such a funny man. Before I describe the next panel that I was scheduled for I would like to say that I actually agreed to be volunteer staff just days prior to this guest confirming. Not that that matters, but that guest was the icing on the cake. Some time ago around the time of this post - I started watching a show with my paranormal peeps. It came on right after our beloved Ghost Hunters. Destination Truth. They went to amazing places, and they showcased how hairy travel can really get. Obviously Josh Gates makes for a hilarious and perfect host. So a few days after I had started prepping in my head for what sort of stuff would need to be done before the event (and I had just thrown my bestie Amanda under the bus for volunteering her full time as well) what are friends for right?! Then it was announced that Josh would in fact be a guest speaker, and I almost fell in the floor. I thought in my head "I wonder if I can get his autograph sometime over the weekend?!" Hahahaha oh boy I hadn't a clue. 

Long story short? fast forward to about 9:00ish p.m. last Saturday night and we are hanging out with Josh and Travis in the Sundial, looking out at the lights of Atlanta. I was laughing on the inside at the sheer craziness of it all. That is where the pic is from, and I have no idea why we all look possessed, but the waitress didn't take any other pictures so I'll roll with it.  A few things to note - regardless of what your stance is on what Travis's story implies he is one cool guy. He was a mix of my dad and my father in law, very quiet and to himself, but there is a sense of humor in there somewhere you just gotta dig a little. I started asking him about grand babies and in no time we were buddies and he was showing me pictures of his little crew like any proud grandpa would. Fast forward some more and we are all hanging out at the hotel bar exchanging stories and drinking beers (Travis had water with lemon and turned in soon after). We sauntered in and out of the karaoke room and back to the bar, and so forth. While in the karaoke room we saw a group of people take off running and some yelling so we followed suit, we followed up into the lobby where we learned that a man was trying to steal a purse. One of the guest speakers, Larry Flaxman actually chased him down and took him out! You can see the news video about it here. We watched as the guy got sat on by 3 security guards and I just turned to Josh and said "Welcome to Atlanta!". Back to the karaoke room, back to the bar, etc etc. The night ended around 3:30am with the hotel staff closing down the bar and putting the chairs up all around us. Amanda and I stumbled back to the room and just giggled, I just turned to her and said that did just happen, didn't it?

Prep

Maybe this post is a result of one of my new obsessions, or maybe not.

There are also some new shows I am seeing on tv like this one. Either way, it has started a few conversations with family and friends (well, that post on facebook helped too). So, it took me a second to realize I may be one of the worst preppers around.

I caught a snippet of Doomsday Preppers and thought, damn they are nuts, like the chick who was stock piling condoms which was silly because she was a freakin' mammoth, and even if there were only a few men left in the world, I don't think they would be knocking on her door.

But I digress,

Then we had something as simple as the water boil advisory last week and I was like "shit, we have no bottled water at all." So then I felt totally unprepared for anything of any caliber. I sat by my stove staring at two pots of boiling water for like 3 hours like a ding dong.

Not days after we finished drinking our weeks supply of gross boiled tap water (note to self - boil the fridge filtered water next time...idiot) we were skipping up and down the stairs trying to decide if we need to sit out the tornado watches and warnings in the basement. Not that it is hard to chill in a basement, but when you have a pissed off teething toddler that you have to wake up to drag down there and have nothing for her to comfortably sleep on you start to worry who's face she is ripping off first.

Another scenario that would definitely leave us(my family) saying, oh shit now what: gas shortage. This one my dear friends, is so possible, even if fairly temporary. In case you recall this happened a few years ago. Let's say the next one is less temporary. We are so dependent on this, and technology. Imagine even a week with no gas, no phone lines, no internet. I can picture people sitting in their houses thinking, uh what is next? Aside from a portion of the people here in the bible belt running the streets screaming Jesus is coming to get them and handing out pamphlets for the rest of us poor souls. We know what they will be doing, because I just told you.

Don't get me started on the end of the world/zombie apocalypse scenario. I watch far too much tv for that. Let's just say if anything ever came too close to the ol homestead they can expect more than just a pillow fight from the Jones's.

So, are you ready?

Pageantry

So, yesterday I was watching a little bit of the Toddlers and Tiaras marathon on TLC don't ask, I feel terrible about it. But some very interesting thoughts came to mind while watching that train wreck of a show...

First, I wonder if DFCS watches this stuff in order to scope out who to bust for being the worst parents ever? It is pretty obvious that most of these poor kids have to go through this because their moms are fat heifers that don't have a snowball's chance to ever be pageant material. So they force their pipe dream on their unfortunate children.

Another thing I found amusing was that one of the commercials that kept playing in between episodes was for the "Your Baby can Read" program. Obviously, most of the fools who put their kids through this pageantry bullshit are far more concerned with their 3 year old's spray tan than if she can read or express any sign of intelligence.

So here I am bashing the pageant scene, when in fact I have been in one myself. How dare I right?!!! In my defense, I was 16 and not 4 - and my mom had nothing to do with forcing me into it. Our highschool's baseball team hosted a "Queen of Diamonds" pageant each spring, and all of the proceeds went towards the team (I think). So one of the guys talked me into it and yes, that is ALL that I did for the baseball team -thankyouverymuch-

I didn't know what was what from what in a pageant. The woman who handed me the package said some mess about formal wear and casual wear. I of course had a prom dress so that was one down one to go. Casual eh? I asked around. Some of the other girls gave me ideas or told me what they were doing (seriously, how many girls can possibly wear business attire in one evening?). Naturally I went outside of the box, like way the hell away from any box on my casual wear gig. I was told we can bring props too, oh goody me likey props.

So I show up for the pageant, with my little printed pageant number for the judges to see me - and judge me. Oh they had no idea.

We all went out and formed a line in our formal wear for the initial scope out from the judges. Then we go back, line up and do the individual dealy. And then it was time for casual wear... hehe

Guess where my prop was? In a cage.

I waltzed right out onto the stage when it was my time to show my casual wear with my good ol' buddy Oscar draped around my neck. Oscar my BALL PYTHON that is. The squeals and shrieks coming from the other girls backstage probably made my entrance that much more interesting.

I wish those damn stage lights weren't so ridiculously bright so I could have seen the reactions of the judges and audience. I could hear the pleasantly audible gasps  (and a few screams) which sufficed I guess. Apparently that was the first time anyone had brought a ball python as a prop, go figure.

Did I win anything? Well hell no I didn't. Rigged, not rigged, snake, no snake I probably didn't stand a chance - this sort of thing was totally not me anyways. If I can remember correctly(and I can't) one of the 20+ girls dressed in a pinstripe suit with a briefcase won for casual wear. Glad they encourage creativity during pageants right? At any rate, I took my little medal that every participant gets and packed Oscar up.


I apologize for the fuzziness of the photo of Oscar and I - but the formal wear pic is pretty clear.

I love me some Wednesday

Ok, so the picture is a little silly, but I can't really post pictures from an actual investigation...

I wanna talk about Wednesdays.

Wednesdays are designed for two things in my mind: getting my nails done, and going to my friend's house to watch Ghost Hunters. Originally she had designed it so that our entire paranormal team could come over and watch the TAPS team in her home theater. (Usually that equated to 3 of us being a part of the fun)

Over the last 2+ years (wow, have I really been doing this for 2 years?) Wednesday nights have evolved into something else, and I have no complaints.

Now on Wednesday nights it is just the two of us. We hang out, tell each other about our crazy weeks, talk smack/ maybe complain, and most importanly...laugh. This evolution may have occurred because we became disenchanted with TAPS after leaving our affiliation with them. I think its 1 part that and 3 parts we just became really good friends.

Like I said, I am not complaining - just glad that our interest in the paranormal (and a group that inevitably fell apart) allowed us to cross paths.

It's funny how things happen isn't it?