Blacked Out.....

Anyone who knows me really well knows that I am completely Halloween and Horror movie obsessed! For the past few years now I have been dying to find a legit Haunted House or Halloween attraction that would really live up to their hype. I've said when talking about it that I want to go to something that scares me so bad I might actually cry. lol Yes, I was told I was nuts. With that said my cousin Missy is also seriously into anything horror just as much as I am and she's usually the nut and my partner in crime that goes on these adventures with me. I was talking to her on the phone one night about a week before I was coming home from my last trip working in LA and she had told me one of her friends said if she really wanted to get the shit scared out of her to check out Blackout NYC.. So literally as she tells me check it out and let me know if you want to go I jumped on their site, called the rest of my silblings, my sister's boyfriend and another one of my cousins and rapidly bought 7 tickets. I called her back to let her know I got tickets and all of sudden from that moment we started buggin ourselves out. LOL

No turning back now! lol

Ok, so for like the entire week I was home leading up to the Sunday night we were going my heart was doing flip flops everytime I thought about it and I think I even lost some sleep a few nights. Which made me even more excited.. I know weird! Some grown men and even people I work with in the industry looked at me like I was totally bat crazy out of my mind for subjecting myself to something like this.

So let me tell you why! The first thing that sets this haunted house apart from any other is that you MUST walk through alone! Yes, I said it ALONE! GENIUS!! :D You have to sign a waiver before you go in as the rules

are: (directly from the site)

1. YOU MUST WALK THROUGH ALONE.
2. You must be over 18.
3. Stay on the marked path at all times.
4. You will be prompted to do certain actions. Please do exactly as you’re told. This is for your safety.
5. There is absolutely no speaking allowed inside. You can, however, scream as loud as you’d like.
6. Do not ever touch the actors.
7. Do not ever touch the walls.
8. You must wear a protective mask and carry a flashlight at all times. (We will provide both of these items for you. Please do not bring your own.)

If you have an emergency while walking through the house and need to be escorted out, please yell the word “SAFETY” as loud as you can. Stay where you are, remain calm, and someone will come to get you and bring you out. Once you call “SAFETY”, there are no refunds and there are no options but to leave.

Please be aware, you will encounter:

FOG – STROBE LIGHTS – COMPLETE DARKNESS
CRAWLING – STAIRS – LOUD NOISES – WATER
PHYSICAL CONTACT – SEXUAL and VIOLENT SITUATIONS

Ok so did you read that whole last part?! So just so you really understand, you are NOT just walking through this thing and having people just jump out from behind a corner and yell boo and sneak back away from you. You are actually interacting with the actors in this house and completing tasks in each room to advance through. They really do an amazing job of adding to the suspense before it's your turn. Your waiting on line watching people one by one disappear into a slit in the wall and your heart and body tempature just rise like crazy. Then

you get to watch the people who are making it all the way through being thrown and running out on the other side of the room. What bugged me out was when it was my turn I couldn't tell as I started walking through the first little area if it had started or not as it's already pitched black and foggy.. That was just as scary as what I encountered as I went through. I'll admitt I did actually think to myself at that moment WTF am I putting myself through right now. My mother had a bet going that about 3 out of the 7 of us were def calling "safety" and I just heard her voice and I was like HELL NO! I'm going through with this no matter what & pushing myself to the very end!!

I'm not going to give any spoilers here as the house is still going on and extended dates into Nov. But I will say that I made it the whole 20/25mins through and am still in totally shock as to what I actually did down there!! That whole time felt like an entirnity!! Every situation just keeps getting weirder and weirder. I found myself being terrified in pitch black not being able to gage the size of rooms shaking, crawling through tight spaces, handcuffed &.... we'll save that part for later ; ) & putting my hand in some pretty gross places, to name a few. The best part was running out the end, drenched and seeing all the other people's terrified faces starring at you waiting in line wondering why the hell I looked the way I did.. My brothers, cousin Mike & I just burst out laughing as soon as I came running out. Maybe partically out of relief to.

Sounds pretty sick right? The sicker part is that I'm kinda sad it's over already! LOL The experience doesn't just end when you leave. The aftermath of it all is just as good as the house. Blackout totally lived up to my expectations of being the most intense and extreme haunted house in NYC. It's definetly the best one I have ever experienced and I'm already excited for next years haunt and will totally be making it a Halloween tradition! They also do a midsummer's haunt which is invite only and twice as long in length. Lovely! :) haha It's all I have been talking about in all my session's during this week and I think now one of my managers if not both after seeing the site think I'm totally insane! LOL

Well ok enough rambling from me if you haven't been to Blackout NYC get your behinds over and check it out! All true halloween/horror fans should put themselves up to the challenge and I guarantee you'll be become addicted just like me! You got my co-sign Blackout, loved it!!! A big thank you to the creator's Josh Randall & Kristjan Thor and all of their crew for making this one of the best Halloween's to date for me! Finally a Haunted House with some balls!!! Bravo, You hooked me! Can't wait to check out the next one! ; )

xo- K

Congrats Poppa!

What an exciting day for my Dad! One of the designer's my father works with, Katie Ridder has a new book out and chose one of the rooms my Dad did with her for the cover! So proud of him!!! Also in the book you can find some more beautiful pictures of his work that he's done with Katie!!

"Light Years" Lyrics

Sorry I've been so bad with getting the lyrics for "No Questions Remain" up on the internet for everyone! So happy with all the new people finding and falling in love with NQR!! Thanks guys for all your support in continuing to push it out there! As promised I am working on the next batch up material for release and I promise it's only getting bigger and better from here! Thanks for sticking with me through everything! Love you All!!

"Light Years"

no word from you has got

me at the edge of my chair

so paralyzed my thoughts

won't let me move from here

when you left you told me not to cry

babe just trust in me

that it's only for a little while

can't stop what's meant to be

so I decided that I'd hold on

cause I believe in what you promised

was it in your plan all along

to leave me stranded

Hook:

Cause it like we're light years apart

left me with no signal to trace

all of our connection is lost

you're 5 trillion miles away

you're floating away from my heart

cause It's like we're light years apart

you're 5 trillion miles away

V2:

I sacrifice my sleep

wishing that you were here

the lies I tell myself

just to quite my fears

you come home and hold me close

but we can feel the space between

terrified to say that things are not

the way they used to be

so do we carry on in denial

hurting each other more each day

thinking if we just stay awhile

we'll close the distance

Hook:

Cause it like we're light years apart

left me with no signal to trace

all of our connection is lost

you're 5 trillion miles away

you're floating away from my heart

cause it's like we're light years apart

you're 5 trillion miles away

Bridge:

you left I stayed

because of those promises we made

abandon us when you went away

love is out of reach

your to far gone

Addressing my Nationality..

I get a lot of messages almost everyday as a matter of fact about my heritage and where I was born and raised. Yes my last name is Albanian, Shqiptare! My Father is Shqiptare and was NOT born in the United States. However, my Mother Is Italian, Irish, German and Scandinavian. She was born and raised in Bronx, New York. My father when he came to this country moved on the same block as my mother and grew up with her. They Married in their twenties. You don't hear stories like that often these days.

I have spoken about my nationality before and am extremely proud of where both my parents come from and their backrounds and how they they've raised my siblings and I. It's funny to me that I would get backlash from both sides of my race, example lying about being Albanian. Which is hilarious to me or the extreme opposite and people talking about my mother and saying nasty things because she is American. My father became a citizen of the United States when he was 18 which would make him an American as well. Which he is very proud to be and also holds duel citizenship.

Bottom line is I'm a mutt. Proud to be a mix and proud that I have so much history and BEAUTIFUL nationalities running through my veins. I'm proud to be the first generation on my father's side born in the states, proud to see what my father has built from the ground up and carry on and take it a step higher and make him proud as his and my mother's daughter, and proud to carry on the traditions of BOTH my families with my little ones someday. What get's to me is some of these comments are from girls, women. Ladies you are the barrier of your children. You carry and nurture them for 9 months inside YOU! They are HALF of whatever you are no matter who you marry. Would you marry someone to bare their children and then let them erase you as if you didn't exist? Be proud women and let's be gracious to eachother. A woman's heart is a powerful thing. Let's share that part of ourselves.

I love the love my parents have for eachother. I've talked a few times with them about some of the comments I've gotten on this subject and they've both said brush it off. I feel I need to write this just this once. I'll defend them both with all of myself because they are good hearted loving people! I'm blessed, truly! I tell myself that everyday!

How about from here on out we try to embrace life & love! My parents are right thought. For those who know me know who I am. I'm Kristine Elizabeth Bernadette ELEZAJ, daughter of both eagles. Albanian-American/Shqiptaro-Amerikane ; ) <3