Room 1298: Ditty Bags!

From Merriam-Webster:
ditty bag
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
Date: circa 1860
: a bag used especially by sailors to hold small articles (as needles and thread)

Or used by children in the seventies when visiting relatives in Arkansas for the summer. Yep. I had a ditty bag. I plan on using the term ditty bag as much as possible in this entry. Ditty. Bag. My ditty bag was trapezoidal in shape, dark blue (or was it black?) with plastic handles and a place for a name tag on the side. I used it to transport the cap gun and caps that I bought with my brother and cousins at the Davis Store (which inexplicably became the Davis Monument Store, as in headstones. I guess the cap gun market is rough) as well as a Malibu Ken doll that my cousin Dawn made me buy (she had a mismatched Barbie/Ken set and needed me to right her wrong). I still wish I had that ditty bag. It would be damn convenient. Carry on size and very Pan Am circa 1950. It should have come with a fedora and some horn-rimmed glasses.
I just did a Google image search and could not find my ditty bag! Oh the kids today with their fancy, colorful, designer ditty bags. (Paisley ditty bags go against all of my core values. And I won't even speak of the leather ditty bag with fringe...blasphemy!) They just don't know. Life was so innocent back when a child could carry a facsimile of a weapon onto an airplane in good old fashioned ditty bag.

Ditty Bag.

Amenities of Room 1298: Powder burns from cap "torpedo". Complimentary plastic Pan Am wings. And a free small, zippered container that doesn't have a name.

Room 689: Karaoke!

Yes, people still do this. I participated in this ritual yesterday. I mean actively...as in, I sang. More than once. Questions about alcohol quantity are filling your brain, aren't they? I only had one beer and that was at the sushi place (Sushi and Karaoke? I guess it was Japanese Stereotype Night. But no, I was not dressed as an Anime character). What did I sing? Most people were doing standards and Broadway stuff so I had to be a sliver of rebelliousness and do rock songs. First I sang "Where is My Mind?" by The Pixies (Side note: just saw a documentary on The Pixies reunion tour. After their first show of the tour, Kim Deal came offstage and immersed her hand in the ice tub filled with bottled water. She also had a mean-ass blister on one of her fingers. I feel her pain...sort of. As I'm typing this the tip of my index finger on my left hand is tingly numb from my bass lessons...Bass Lessons! I got my job to pay for lessons as a part of a "professional development fund"...suckers). I then did backup as my friend sang The Dixie Chicks "I'm Not Ready to Make Nice" (More rebellion: Country!) And then I finished the evening (or my portion of the evening that ended at 9) with a rousing rendition of Hole's "Miss World". I hate to toot my own horn but I was pretty good. So toot toot, motherfuckers!

Amenities of Room 689: Complimentary Mr. Microphone. Room Service Spicy Tuna Roll Special. Neck pillow for more comfortable Headbanging.

Room 880: Lucky Cats

Don't know what Lucky Cats are? Apparently, you've never been to Little Tokyo or the Sherman Oaks Curves. Lucky Cats are idols that...well...bring good luck (the Japanese name is Maneki Neko. Learned something new? You're welcome). They are cute and look like they are waiting for a high five (and they wear a "Don't leave me hangin'" expression as well). They are to be placed near the entrances of homes or in shop windows (alas, no luck for the Curves: their cat is stuck in the corner by the stretching mats). I guess the theory is that luck is sucked in by the good fortune-laden kitty statues and then permeated into the house and into its residents. OK, why not? I have two lucky cats that I am sure are very authentic that I bought at Epcot. They are about an inch and a half tall (they can be any size) and come with a little pamphlet describing the types of luck. Different colored Lucky Cats give you different kinds of luck or strength or whatever. "Green will bring strength in academics" (but I'm out of school). "Silver will give you patience" (but I want my luck now). And "Pink will bring you romance and new friends" (new, romantic friends?). And so on, you get the point. My first instinct was to buy one of each because, hey, let's hit this luck thing from every angle. Turns out, that's not very cost effective (this is Epcot, remember). So I opted for the two most general, as all encompassing luck as possible: "The white cat will bring you good luck and happiness" (right on) and "gold will make your dreams come true and bring you good luck in wealth" (double right on). Luck, happiness, dream fulfillment and wealth. Sorry, pink cat, looks like I can now buy those romantic friends.

Amenities of Room 880: Luck. That's all.