Soap Factory Haunted Basement

     It was a full day for me, capped by doing some acting at a haunted house- the Soap Factory. I had shied away from this place for a while, as all I knew was having to sign a waiver if one is a patron. It changed when I asked further about it after seeing an exhibit there in August. I wanted to do it for the experience, and what an experience it was! I kept saying how I was nervous leading up to it, but told myself this is also how I felt when I first did stand-up comedy. Well this faded quickly, once I was out in it, just like when doing stand-up. As I've heard it said before, if you're not nervous at all then something's wrong. It was rather simple for me, first thing was show up and get an assignment- as well as makeup and costume. Then it meant going through directions from an event coordinator. There were breaks from time to time, and a dinner provided as well. When a certain song was played, it was our cue that it was break time or end of shift. I liked this way more than one thing I recall doing right before the election- a phone bank for a politician 6 years ago. I scared half of the people sent my way, not bad for a rookie. So I feel I did my job well. I had to figure out by trial and error what worked. It got me some stand-up comedy material, as expected. Some of the responses from the patrons were memorable, besides the screaming and sometimes swearing. When we had our dinner time it made me think of the song 'Soul to squeeze' by the Red Hot Chili Peppers as we were gathered around in our costumes for dinner much like the carnies in the video. Earlier I quoted 'Mrs. Rita' by the Gin Blossoms as another actor, a teenage girl, read my palm. 'Tell me Mrs. Rita, what's it say in my tarot. Read my palm and tell me why do lovers come and go'. I found her reading to be accurate. I was described as adventurous but not stupid, and my dating life leaves a lot to be desired. I enjoyed all of the people I met. One of them didn't like my Iowa Hawkeyes coat, but near the end of the night somebody liked it as they were from Iowa, specifically West Des Moines. I said I lived in the Valley Junction section of town for a year and a half after college. And I quoted the president, saying I liked it when he said 'What unites us, not what divides us'. I will probably sign up for this event again next year. At the end of the night, I liked hearing some songs on my car radio while driving home. It was 'Hook' by Blues Traveler and 'Today' by Smashing Pumpkins.
   The other two events today were a date, and an event at a museum. I had the date at a Caribou coffee shop. I thought it went well, will find out soon enough if there is a second date. The museum event was a Theodore Roosevelt impersonator. He was stumped about the president's friend, western writer Emerson Hough. He did know about his one-year term as head of the American Historical Association, after he was done as US president.