Hurrah Hurrah!

Salvation is at hand! Summer has begun! :)

So there is much to do this summer ...yes ... much to do.

My List

1. Attempt to attend any and all weddings occurring this summer.
2. Get a job.
3. Write until I become permanently glued to my chair.
4. Get Nate to help remove me from my chair.
5. Cry because I won't be able to find a job.
6. Draw pictures for Nate's RPG book because he gives me puppy dog eyes.
7. Visit my friends and family before summer ends.
8. Entice my friends to come live with me using shiny objects and adorable baby animal pictures.
9. Live in a cardboard box because I spent all my money visiting and having fun with my friends.
10. Go back to school.

Haha, okay so maybe it won't be THAT bad. Actually, I am really looking forward to this summer. So much so, that I finally wrote about my enthusiasm in my journal! *gasp*

Alright, enough of this drama. I'm gonna go back to writing.

My Personality

Yes, it's been a while, and mostly because I have been crazy busy or . . . obsessively feeding my new game addiction *grins* . . . I should be embarrassed, but I'm not. Oh, and doing my homework. hehe.

So we went to the highland games which happened to be at the fairgrounds which is 2 blocks from our apartment. How great is that? We walked so we didn't have to park and it was good thing we did because it was HUGE. The tents for the family names were about as big as the bellingham highland games itself. Not to mention they also had areas I had never seen before, like the birds of prey exhibit. It was so kewl! They brought a huge golden eagle, so big the guy had to stick a pole under his arm so he could hold the bird up. They also brought out a tiny little screech owl. Which was full grown but the size of my palm. But I think there was some mix-up because there were also a bunch of people in Medieval garb including women parading as fairies, and a group of drunken pirates. *shrug* But what do I know? Oh, and of course, I also got my fix of haggis and shepard's pie. The good stuff. haha.

In more recent news . . . there were clouds in the sky! We even thought it might rain for the first time since we have been here. Well, it didn't. And since then I've seen clouds only one other time. Mind you, im not complaining. Just a bit amazed by it all. (Yes, all my friends who deal with the horrendous weather back home may now fume with jealous envy . . . as long as you immediately decide to come visit and see for yourself hehe)

Then, when we thought everything was starting to cool down, we got an unexpected call from Dawn saying she got the internship and she was heading down! So since her arrival we have gone to San Fran to Japan Center and introduced her to our new life and weather. So far so good. Infact, we also stumbled upon our city's heritage festival downtown this weekend and we had a blast looking through all the artsy stuff and some incredible finds. For instance, baked popcorn. I don't know if anyone else has ever tried this stuff, but baked popcorn is AMAZING. There are no kernels, or anything else to get stuck in your teeth. It is a marvel and my newest "junk" food addiction. (Okay, so its not really junk food, but close enough). Also there was a vendor selling homemade jams and honey. I'm normally not a jam type of person but these jams were so tasty I had to get them. Came home, glazed some chicken and it was GOOD. I definitely recommend it to all, if you can find the good stuff.

Otherwise, we are all trying to put ourselves into a nice routine of well, non-routine like days but all is well so far . . .lets hope it stays that way. hehe.

Luvyaz!

Another weekend fell upon us, and of course, as always, we go out to explore our new surroundings. However, this weekend was special. We had learned from our valuable sources that Viz media was promoting 20 yrs and that they were doing so on the BART. So we needed to go to San Fran just for that purpose. Yet, since we did not want to go just for the ride, we decided to also go to Fisherman's Wharf. Nate and I went there last time we had visited San Fran and thought Meg would enjoy the experience.

This was a bad idea.
It was in the middle of winter when we went last. Meaning, rather vacant of any tourists. It is now late summer . . . also known as tourist season. But we'll get to that in a few moments.

When we got onto the BART, I half expected huge signs from Viz, possibly a booth, people in Viz shirts, maybe a few cosplayers . . . ANYTHING.
Nothing.
Well technically there was something, kids under the age of 6 rode free. Welcome to the Viz promotion. At least that was what we were told. Very disappointing. However, I remembered Megan and Dawn saying specifically there would be a goodie bag of some sort and I was determined to get them, even if I had to walk to the Viz building and demand very loudly for one.
So we arrive in San Fran, again half thinking there would be a bright neon signs pointing towards a magical booth of goodies. Wrong again. Infact, there was nothing at all. This made no sense. Our stop was almost right infront of the Viz building itself. If anywhere on the BART had goodie bags, it would be right here. Nope. Dejected, we decided we would head off towards the Wharf and maybe we would see something.

This is where a flashing warning sign should have gone off in my head. All the cable cars that went to the wharf were full before they reached our stop. They were packed in like sardines in a can. In fact, they needed one of those people that shove people into the trains in Tokyo, because I saw a few remote gaps. However, we manage to slip into one and were finally headed on our way. We also walked part of the way and took some great pictures. (see gallery). By this time, Meg and Nate were starving and I quickly learned having one of them starving was bad, having both was WORSE. Its scary, trust me on this. But once we reached our stop. I did not want to get out. There was no wharf. There was a sea of people as far as you could see, slowly making their way in and out of shops and trying to avoid the diving pigeons. Yes, you read that correctly, diving pigeons. Meg actually nearly collided into one head first because apparently it decided to aim for her head.
But those two didn't care, they were going to eat the wharf itself soon so we swam through the herd to the far back where Bubba Gumps is located. Awesome place to eat. . . when its not jam-packed full of hungry carnivores. At least while we waited there was a guy walking around making little balloon animals for the kids or anyone else who wanted one. I was tempted, but had no clue how I was going to back a large sword back onto the bus/cable car so I declined.
So we got in, we ate and was out of there in a half an hour. Now it was time to look around, problem was everyone else was doing the same thing. We actually didn't spend that much time there, we ate at Bubbas, walked into two shops (chocolate store and celtic store). Then ate some more, apparently Meg had to have another crepe even if it killed her. Then took one look at the line that extended outside the wharf for the aquarium and decided it was time to go home.

However, one good thing came out of the packed wharf. We spotted a few people carrying around bags labeled with big black letters: VIZ. Ah ha! They do exist! Now how do we go about getting one? We looked on the way back and still found nothing. We were very sad that we were gonna go home without one. We got back on the BART which was full since everybody was about to head home when I saw a group of people with the bags. I had to ask where they had gotten them. Apparently they were right outside the BART. We didn't see them so I guess we're blind. But one of the guys was willing to give us his and we were so grateful! I thanked him profusely and we all gathered around and peered in. This I will have to make into an anime sketch because we were so excited and then we learned why he wasn't so attached to the goodie bag. It contained a small poster of one of the Pokemon series, a poster timeline of Viz media, a episode of pokemon, and small sneak peek book filled with snippets of older manga. Thats it. *sigh* Oh well. Over all, it had still been a great day even if Viz needs to learn how to do a good promotion. That and we learned a valuble lesson: avoid tourists, ALWAYS.

Luvyaz!

Next entry: Scottish Highland Games . . HERE?

Jelly Bellies are a wonderful creation full of tastes that either explode with spectacular flavor or bomb horrendously to where you wish you could just spit it out like you did when you were a kid and didn't like what mom fed you. I'm not sure who we had learned it from, but we found out that the Jelly Belly Factory was about a 30-45 min drive from our place.

That was it. We were going.
Other than the surprise of a toll booth, and the anger against motorcycle drivers (got a whole rant on that one) we had arrived! We also learned if one wished, one could have some jelly bellies, drink them down with beer across the street, and then go to the research clinic another block down. Convenient. ;P Anyway, you really couldn't miss it with the signs and the huge red Jelly Belly dude standing infront of the entrance, as well as the bug car that was painted with Jelly Bellies. Sadly, we forgot our camera . . . again. *sigh* I have a really nice pic though on my cellphone! Just imagine some smiley people infront of a Jelly Belly Bug Car. Anyway, we went inside and began our tour. We quickly learned that they must initiate you with a fabulous paper hat with their logo on it. One must always wear this magic paper hat if they wish to be on the tour. We readily complied. It was dashing on all of us. :D The tour mainly consisted of us stopping every few feet, watching a small clip at each "station" and then staring into the glass saying "oooh," and "aaah" except there was little to see because apparently on Sundays they really don't do that much work. However there was a point were they blared "Candy Girl" and had the machines dance while the mascot was "talking" to us and was unfortunately glued on top one of the packaging machines. Hey, the kids loved it. But finally we were at the end of the tour where we got free packets of Jelly Bellies! And then brought back down the stairs which strategically stops you infront of their store of Jelly Bellies and their merchandise. But hey who were we kidding? We bolted for the candy and began filling our bags full of the many wonderful flavors. (I personally skipped a few like buttered popcorn, and Jalapeno). But they also had new flavors, pop flavors actually. Like Sprite, Crush: grape and orange (orange was REALLY good) and a few mints, bleh, and smoothie flavors. yum.

So are you wanting some now? Good. Now you can all come down and visit us and we will appease your hunger with our 4 bags of jelly belly "misforunates" until we all go as a big group to the factory. They actually did parties there too. . . and had a sample bar . . . which they guarded very closely.
Again, another good day. Well except for nate who has already finished his Jelly Bellies. (see pictures-that is when I load them). hehe.

Luvyaz!

Next up: Viz Media goodies and "eating out" :)

The first weekend here, we had our first visitor! Who do you ask?

Nate's long lost friend Beth! (long lost because they hadn't seen each other in ages, but had managed to keep in touch for years). Fortunately, Beth was on her way up from California and could spend the weekend with us. This is where our adventure begins. :)

On sunday we all piled into Nate's car and proceeded to search for the Bart station, which we had not yet located. Luckily it was near the freeway and there were somewhat helpful signs to indicate in a general direction of where we needed to go. hehe. Meg got her very first Bart ticket! wahoo! (imagine a picture of meg here holding her ticket proudly . .. because we forgot the camera . . . again).

We arrived in downtown San Fran about 45 minutes later, the journey had been pretty nice and just reassured us that we chose a great place to live. Anyway, we then grabbed the Muni, which is the bus system, over to the Japanese Cultural Center. This is where Nate and I on our last trip had our all you can eat sushi! And since Beth and Meg were both fans, we went for it. Sadly, REALLY it was sad, we arrive to find the place closed. *sob* Not just closed, but empty. They were no longer in business. I had to sit down and rock myself back to sanity. :D

Once I was back to my former self we went hunting for another sushi place. Don't get me wrong, in the mall that they call cultural center had plenty places to eat lots and lots of japanese cuisine, including sushi. We just weren't willing to pay 10 bucks for 4 pieces. Finally we found a kaiten sushi!! It was so kewl!! Instead of a conveyor belt like sushi land, they had water with flat boats tied together that went around with sushi on top. Apparently, this store had been the first to think of it and had the rights to this type of thing. Whatever, we just wanted to eat . . . and watch the boats. :) The sushi was pretty good, tried a few new things, and a few old things, all was well except for the shrimp which happened to have large quantities of wasabi under it and fire lept from our mouths. Otherwise not bad. Miss Richmond . .. and our new place down here which closed down. *sigh*

Afterwards, did a little shopping, had to go to book store. Nate got a few more manga, and Meg bought this funny little book titled "What would Budda do?" Then we found a crepe store!!! Even though we were stuffed with sushi, meg and I managed to share one with strawberries and chocolate syrup. Oh heaven. SOOOOO good.

Then we were off once more to Golden Gate Park. However we didn't go for the park itself, we went to the Japanese Tea Garden within the park. For a small fee you could go in and admire the beautiful scenery. It was SO pretty. SO awesome. (yes, this means everyone must come down and live here so we may all experience this). We walked around and took a few pictures from Beth's camera, she was smart, she remembered hers. Then we went into the gift shop where meg and beth immediately purchased very beautiful teapot sets. And then, since we hadn't already stuffed ourselves with tea at the sushi place, and had only bought teapot sets at the garden and they didn't come with actual tea, we sat down and had tea again at a little shop inside the garden. It was really pretty because it was open and you could enjoy the view while you sipped your tea. This is where you begin to think crazy things like: wow, this is beautiful, wouldn't this be perfect for a backyard? *sip*
Once the tea is gone and you get up, you finally come to your senses and realize that it would expensive to create and even more so to upkeep and that you would rather pay a few dollars to go here and pretend its in your backyard. hehe. At least, those were my thoughts.
Now it was time to head home and get some dinner and relax. Sadly we had no idea how to get to the Muni that got us here. So we walked around a little bit, then walked a little more, and finally managed to find a bus stop which would take us home. When we arrived we got chinese takeout (won't go into the details of it being over and hour late, and meg starting to eat her arm . . .) Overall, a fabulous day. :)



Stay tuned for the next adventure: THE JELLY BELLY FACTORY! Oh yes it does exist.

P.S. HONEY AND CLOVER ROCKS!!!!

As stated in the subject, I have started to load the pictures in the gallery. Please view for your own viewing pleasure. :)

http://pics.livejournal.com/luvya987/

Day 2

Bright and early the next morning we awoke from our tossing and turning sleep on rock slabs and had a quick breakfast from the "Breakfast area." This consisted of a small corner in the main lobby where it was set up on a small table with a mini fridge for the milk for cereal and a big coffee maker and boxes of cereal. Also there were only two chairs in the opposite corner which we took over, balancing our food and drink precariously on the arm rests. Did I mention this is bright and early? Not the easiest task for sleep deprived night owls. :D

So we head off into the sunrise into the vastness of lots and lots of mountains. From previous experience with the car, I had learned to accelerate before hitting the hill and praying I would not lose enough speed to where I was 30 below the speed limit. Otherwise the hippos were out again and if we thought they were scary on straight roads, curvy roads were much worse, but was that the worst? No. Because then we were in California. Oh california, how beautiful you seem from afar . . . and off the freeways. Otherwise, the people who live in your fair state are absolutely certifiable once behind the wheel. I think its a mandatory thing, its on your license, you must sign that you will promise to risk the lives of everyone on and near the freeway or else you are not true to your state. When soccer moms flip you off for going only 10 miles above the speed limit, you know something is desperately wrong. But, ah, I get ahead of myself. More to follow later.

The trip was relatively uneventful except for the small spasms of panic when we weren't sure we were on the right road, but again that was near San Fran when we had to change into several other roadways which also in itself would change to yet another road. However, on the way down, though we were short on time, we all immediately agreed to stop on one city once we saw the sign. Weed. Ah yes, there is a city in good ol Cali which is called Weed. Other than the horrendous gas prices, as a hint it was more expensive than bellingham gas which is incidentally the most expensive in the state, and we had a penske 50 gallon tank, it was, well, normal. Tiny little piece of land in the middle of nowhere. Course the gas station had postcards and . . . well shot glasses and bumper stickers which all said I LOVE WEED, CA. We also took some fabulous pictures of the huge weed sign.





Since we were a bit behind we started to haul butt, well that and since we were now in California everyone was going faster. However, we didn't know how fast until we neared San Fran and got off of I-5. This is where we found the soccer mom, and all the various drivers in BMW's, Lexus's, SUV's, and Hummers going at least 20 above. It became painfully obvious that people do not get pulled over for speeding, infact it would not surprise me if people get pulled over for going the speed limit. And the speed limit is 70. We were literally being pushed to go faster and the only time we got any slack was when we would purposefully put ourselves behind slow trucks which were only going 5-10 over. Side streets are my friends.

Anyways, we just made it down before the manager's office closed to get our keys. WOW. Our apartment is fantastic. We have a bottom floor and the ceilings are still vaulted which is awesome. The rooms are huge and the kitchen was expansive, not to mention the patio is awesome. Unfortunately we are still in the process of unpacking and its been over a week. *shrug* When we have no furniture to put things away, it becomes difficult to unpack. But here we are! Beautiful area, more beautiful than anything we have seen so far. Course there are a lot of the upper crust living here too since it is such a nice find, but we will learn to live with them . . and their spoiled kids. :)

VIVA LE PLEASANTON!

Oh I can't even begin to say how good it feels to have things somewhat back to normal. But lets go back a little and see the adventure unfold shall we?

Day 1
(note: day 1 was suppose to start the night of the 3rd . . . instead it started early on the 4th . . . but lets not relive the unpleasantries of packing the truck . . . lalala, I can't hear you!)

*clears throat*

So as stated above, we started out bright and early once we finished packing and furiously cleaning so Megan wouldn't hunt us down in CA and hurt . . . wait, darn it that would have been perfect. Poo.
Anyways, with a unsettled stomach from a quick breakfast at the illustrious McDonalds restaurant we headed down I-5 . . ah yes, the interstate that we would be following for the next two days. It was weird as we were heading out realizing that we would not be coming back. *sniff* sad more like.

Fast forward a few hours later.
We manage to avoid most of the major traffic on the way down. Once we hit Olympia a herd of Hippos migrated with us South. Yes, Hippos. How can there be Hippos in the state of WA? Did the escape the zoo? No. Let me explain. After this journey I had given the kings of the roads the name of Hippo. They are burly, big, and occasionally carnivorous, much like semis. Its a wonderful likeliness and I'm not changing it. :P

Anywho, the Hippos littered the freeway. Nate, who was driving the truck all the way down, GO NATE!, and I could not get away from them. If we sped up they would be ahead, if we slowed down, you get the idea. But we handled it rather well. And may I mention, driving through WA is really pretty and nice. That is when aggressive washingtonians don't cut you off with their SUV's and the sun doesn't start frying your left arm, its great! However, once we started driving in Oregon (which I am not quite sure when that happened exactly since I managed to miss the welcome to Oregon sign. (You would think they would make those bigger, I mean its a big deal to be going into another state). It should be noted. Meanwhile you go to a city in the same state and the sign is bigger enough that if it were made of chocolate, it could feed a small country, but more on that later.

Where was I? Oh yes, Oregon. Very much like Washington. But what makes it nice? Well Nate and I were on our way to Meg's so we could pick her up and continue on our way (Meg lives in Portland). We made great time until we hit city limits. Then we were like salmon trying to spawn upstream (whats with all the national discovery similarities?). Except some of the salmon were a little confused and were also going in the opposite direction. And we also went the wrong way. That doesn't help. BUT BUT BUT!! Traffic in portland was a DREAM compared to the seattle/redmond/bellevue mess for one reason. THE DRIVERS. WOW, what a difference when people stuck in traffic are courteous and don't try to cut you off, push your car into the rail, etc. And we know, believe me, when you have no idea where you are going and attempting to merge from lane to lane and then go back, you'd think they would be angry, but each time they were nice enough to let us in. Ah, simple pleasures. But I digress. From there we managed to meet up with Meg and she brought us back to her house. Then what happened next was close to a miracle. Within the span of an hour and a half, her mother, brother, meg, nate and I, had unpacked half the truck, and then repacked it to the brim! (see picture below). We decided to take a short break, ok a couple of hours because we didn't want to go back out into Portland traffic, but we were off again.



Oh, and as a side note, WALKIE TALKIES ARE AWESOME!!! Meg managed to grab some so we could have them for the rest of trip, wow was that a great deal better then trying to dial nate up on the cell, now with a click of a button i could speak to both of them! (Did I mention we were all driving one vehicle, oh yes, most fun). This could totally be a great commercial for these things.

The rest of the trip unfortunately was not as fun since we managed to go through most of Oregon in pitch black darkness. And it became even more funless when the Hippos came out. Apparently they are nocturnal and migrate most of the night. However here is where the title makes sense. Though Oregon drivers are the nicest ever, the semis passing through are down right crazy!!! They unanimously decide at dusk that they are now cheetahs and not hippos. When semis begin traveling through the fast lane with speeds upward of 80, you know there is something terribly wrong. But wait! They have those "how's my driving" signs on the back, you can call them if they try to push you off the freeway right? WRONG! Even if the sign with the phone number was readable, the license plate was not. There was actually a few with the signs mysteriously scratched out. Hmm. Interesting. Its more like someone writing in big neon letters, AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!
Well this type of behavior stirs the rest of the smaller "animals" on the road and think they can do it too . . . so trucks with trailers and campers join the race. Ugh. I was just a little creeped out when a huge RV is trying to race a Hippo. It didn't help that we managed to get behind from the traffic after Portland and instead of arriving at 10ish, it was 11 and we were still driving. FUN FACT! Did you know when its pitch dark, you have no clue that you are going up or down a hill, that is until the car mysteriously starts to lose speed? Another fun fact: Mazdas hate hills.
We FINALLY manage to make it to grants pass and had not stopped in the last 4 hours, so suffice to say it was a little intense. (did I also mention I'm a very defensive driver? Ugh, painful) And to top it off, the inn we were planning on staying at were full. *sob*. We eventually found a room at a different hotel and didn't care that the hotel had mistaken slabs of rock as beds. At this point we were happy to collapse and blissfully fall unconscious.

This ends Part 1. Please stay tuned for part 2 where the trio battles California drivers and hungry piranhas. :D

I have become one of you . . . we are one. Yes . . . now I may rant and rave on topics most will have no real interest in. Perhaps I can add other things to my journal to keep the easily entertained amused . . . but that shall come later. But for now . . . I shall write about something else.

If only I had things to write about . . .

Yeah, that would be REALLY nice.

Hmm, I wonder what I need to do tomorrow?

Why am I allergic to eggs?

Can August come later? . . . Much later, and be spelled with an e.

No, really, I have lost all desire to move . . .

NO! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME GO!!! I WON'T LET YOU!! *clasps onto chair*

Oh, you're not making me? . . .

WHY NOT?!?!?

Poo. Why do I have to make ALL the decisions? Seriously, can't someone else take over for a while? I throw in the towel, wave the white flag, etc!

Maybe I should retire . . . or become a bum. :D

The End.

Poll #779273 The Proper Spelling of August
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 3

Should August be spelled with an e?