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Sunday, April 27th, 2008
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7:12 pm - 1500
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That's right, five times as good as 300.
Well, no, not really.
Actually, that's how many words I've written in my current story. Finally doing something to get the damn thing off the ground.
It's good to be writing again. Now to work on writing something that isn't crap.
YAY!
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| Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
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11:44 pm - Well, this is a surprise.
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| Tuesday, November 13th, 2007
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2:30 pm - Back in NZ
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Well, I'm back home, with is ok and strange and confusing and... I don't know. Meh.
One major thing is that I'm disappointed I didn't get to meet Kippurbird like we'd discussed. Turns out that if I'd known then what I know now, about how limited net access would be before I left, and how easy it would be to go through LAX security, I could have made better plans, made the arrangements clear for both of us well ahead of time, and we'd have had a couple of hours to chat. Which would have been nice.
I would also have bought a cheap cellphone for use while in the States, so that I could communicate easier in such situations.
Next time. Definitely next time. Definitely, definitely next time.
Among all the other turbulence going through my head right now, there's a curious thought that has nothing to do with anything. And it is this:
Why, if smoking is such a hazard on airplanes, and there are smoke detectors in the bathrooms, and it's so forbidden and all... why are there ashtrays in the bathrooms? I'm told it's because smoking USED to be allowed... but it's still wierd.
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| Friday, November 9th, 2007
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12:32 pm - All good things...
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Well...
It sucks that my trip is almost over. My vacation is almost done. At 6am tomorrow morning, I will be flying out of Rochester for New York. Then to Los Angeles. Then to New Zealand.
My feelings are heavily mixed right now. I want to go home but I don't wanna leave, etc. I really don't want to stop hanging out with Harle and Andy (and I didn't want to stop hanging out with Ven, or D and Sharla), but at the same time, I do feel I put a bit of a burden on them, what with being a guest while they have two kids to look after already. Speaking of the kids, it's gonna be nice to be away from their 'bad' phases, but they're so freakin' adorable when they're good...
So yeah. Very torn right now.
So this is my last night out here. In about an hour and a half I will go offline, probably for good until I reach New Zealand. And thanks to the International Date Line, I might as well not exist on Sunday for most of the world...
Oh well. Guess it's over. Time to get on with my life. Whatever that's gonna be.
So long and thanks for all the fish.
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| Tuesday, November 6th, 2007
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9:51 am - I have an excuse this time...
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Right, so it is now Tuesday, and I haven't posted for a week or so. Again. But there's a reason for that which doesn't include the phrase "I didn't get around to it" or "I couldn't be bothered". I'll get into that in a bit.
Anyways... Saturday, 27th October, me and Ven went to the Tacoma history museum and poked around there a bit. Lot of interesting stuff about the settlers and the war years and all sorts. There was even a woman roleplaying a German immigrant, one of the 'vidows of Vidows Gulch'. So that was all very cool. Nearby was the Museum of Glass, but when we got there we found it was a bit overpriced, and looked like it was mostly for kids anyways. Especially so close to Halloween.
One of the rooms at the history museum was a series of displays concerning the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, or 'Galloping Gertie', a bridge that basically collapsed because of the wind. It was a bit more streamlined and I guess even delicate than most bridges, and hadn't exactly been designed with strong cross-winds in mind, especially not the ones at the Tacoma Narrows. So it developed a sort of rolling undulating up and down movement when the wind blew, hence the name. However, when a cable snapped, that added a twist to the movement, and the whole thing tore itself apart. And because of that? Bridge design pretty much EVERYWHERE was reevaluated. That's what I call an impressive screw up! And yes, they've rebuilt that Narrows bridge and made it better (We can rebuild it. Tougher, stronger, more stable than before...), so it doesn't gallop... and me and Ven went across it. :)
Lster that afternoon, we went to Lakewood to meet up with Dale and his wife, Sharla. We were gonna go see Saw IV, but, well, neither Ven or I actually knew where that cinema was, and we'd forgotten to look it up before we left. So we asked for directions, and got mis-directed. Then we asked somewhere else and got sent to the right cinema. Only we were 15 mins late. So we went into 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age', which Ven really wanted to see, and I watched that a bit before heading out just before Saw IV ended (I asked at the desk what time that would be). Ven stayed to watch Elizabeth, and I managed to find Dale and Sharla, so I went back to their place and we all hung out together, watching Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride, then Dale and I played WoW while Sharla rocked out on Guitar Hero 2. And then I slept on their couch. And had a cat jump on my hip.
Sunday, the three of us met up with Ven, Rill and Becca, and we all went into Seattle. We saw the Space Needle together, then went down to Pike Place Market. Biiiig markety place, that. So big that we all got split up. :( Me, Dale and Sharla went to see this fishmonger stall where they throw the fish at each other. Not like in a snowball fight (fishball fight?) but when a customer orders, sometimes they toss the fish across to the guy behind the counter. Had to wait around a bit, got to see them throw some crabs around. Then apparently a couple of girls in the 'audience' asked to see a fish get thrown, so a guy called out, picked up a massive salmon (I think) and tossed it to one of the other guys, who then chucked it back. Then the second guy called out 'One more!' and threw a fish... which sailed out and hit the girls who asked. You should have heard the shrieks!... but it was only a large rubber fish. I mean, real rubber. Is there even such a thing as a rubberfish?
But because we did that while the other three went searching for the rest rooms... we lost them. Oh well, more time to hang out with Dale and Sharla! :) So we looked for a bit, and we waited around, then we went looking around Pike Place Market. Found a comic shop (of course), and we had lunch at a cafe. Then we went to the aquarium. That was awesome. :)
And then it was getting late, and it was Monday the next day and all, so we headed back to Ven's, where I got dropped off and said my goodbyes to Dale and Sharla. I hate goodbyes.
The split earlier had a silver lining though. It gave Rill and Becca a chance to use Venny as a dress-up doll... I mean, help Venny shop for clothes she could wear to her new job. Yes, that's what I meant... Stop looking at me like that.
Anyways, they got her some good clothes, and Venny looks good in office wear. You ain't seen Venny until you've seen her in a suit. :P Hmmm, I should have taken pictures...
And suddenly, I think I'm safer here in New York... away from the wrath of Ven! >:P
Yup, I'm in New York state, in a place called Rochester. Or near there, anyways. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were just used to relax, until Wednesday night when I embarked on a frenzy of last minute packing, gave up on fitting my souvenirs into my bags and resolved to Fed-Ex them home, and got two hours semi-sleep before getting up at 3:15 to get ready for my 7am flight to JFK airport.
Unfortunately, while SeaTac Airport has a Fed-Ex service, it doesn't do international, so Ven will send the stuff to me when I get back to NZ. So once I'd lugged the stuff to the Fed-Ex guys, found that out and lugged it back to Ven's car, I had to say goodbye to Ven (did I mention I hate goodbyes?) and go get my flight.
Which I almost missed. My bags were checked early enough and all, but I got to security 55 mins before scheduled departure... and took almost 45 of those getting through security. Then I had to run like heckfire to get to the gate and I made it with like a minute to spare (because they were ending boarding at 6:50). Then I had a lovely flight... if you don't count that I used automatic checking because the service desk was too busy, and the machine didn't give me a chance to specify aisle set, so I ended up sitting between two people. And there was no room in the luggage racks, so my carry-on had to go on the floor, where it took up most of the leg room. Had to sit with my legs sort of over or around it. And then, when we got to New York, it was apparently 'rush hour', and we were in a holding pattern for up to 45 mins before we got to land.
And then, when I got my bags, I decided I didn't feel like carrying them all, so I went for an airport cart. One of those things where you have to pay a machine to get the cart out of the rack. And there's two black guys standing beside the first rack I saw, and one of them says to me "Hey, we got a cart here already. Just three dollars, same as the machine. I'll just put your bags on..." Now, I do not trust strangers with my luggage in any way, so I declined. And I looked, and yeah, it was three dollars, but it seemed dodgy, and I don't like people being that, well, familiar and pushy right off the bat, so I said I would rather get it direct from the machine. And the guy laughs and says "Yeah, you know what I'm doing. So how about two dollars?" I politely declined again, and moved towards the rack... and the guy's buddy tells me to go to the other rack. I turned, and sure enough, there was another rack, so I did that. No point in making unnecessary fuss, right?
But still, some people. Probably grabbed a discarded cart and thought he could make a quick buck. And then the implication that they wouldn't let me get a cart from that rack at all... feh. Losers.
The good news was that my flight to Rochester wasn't for another four hours anyways, so I was able to check in for that and get through security in plenty of time, and then just kick back and relax and wait. Whoo!
Even better, that flight arrived at Rochester airport 12 minutes early, so I had disembarked and got all my bags before my ride was even there.
Unfortunately, I didn't know who my ride was. See, I'm in Rochester visiting my friend Harlequin, who I have known roughly as long as I have Ven. Met her in the same place, Mylanders Chat Room. But because of her work schedule, and because the plane was getting in at 10pm, Harle wasn't going to be the one picking me up. Her husband was. And I had never met him or seen a picture. All I had was a vague, 'tall guy with red hair' description of a guy called Andy. She was gonna tell me what sort of shirt he'd be wearing when we got closer to the date, but then she wasn't online for ages.
So I'm waiting there with another cart (which I had no trouble at all getting) and I'm getting nervous. And then a red-headed guy walks in carrying a little home-made sign. Couldn't see what was on the sign, but he was the first red-head I'd seen there, so I look at him, trying to figure if it's Andy. And he looks back at me like he's wondering why the hell I'm staring at him. (Well, that's exactly what he was wondering, but anyways). And he goes over to the arrivals screen... so I go over and ask if he's Andy. And he says yes, still looking confused, because he hadn't expected the plane to have arrived already. So I introduced myself and all, and we took the bags out to the car (which was interesting, they only just fit). Plus it was his dad's car, because Andy's car was in the shop, and the passenger side door was jammed so I had to climb over into the seat... well, step over, anyways. It worked.
Bottom line, I'm here in Rochester now, but Harle and Andy don't have an internet connection right now. So Andy brought me in to the community college where he's taking classes, and I'm using a library computer for this while he's in class. :)
Harle and Andy are good people. Harle's pretty much the same as she was online, and we have interests in common and such, so we're getting along well. Andy, as well, he's into D&D and Warhammer 40k miniatures and such, so we tend to have fairly cool convos. Heh, earlier I played back the ringtone on my PDA, which is currently the theme from the original Transformers series. He loved that.
They have two kids as well. Five year old Quinn, who's a little chatterbox and bundle of energy. Has a tendency to throw tantrums or whine at the slightest thing, but he's a sweet kid otherwise. And then there's Aiden, almost 18 months old and absolutely adorable. He says a few words, but it's a lot of fun saying "Yay" to him all the time, because he says it back really happily. That and "Ta da!" And he likes high-fives. He DOES like to climb on my luggage and pull things off tables and all, but hey, he's still a baby, right?
Aiden was fascinated with the pull-out handle on my carry-on luggage at one point, and I showed him how it worked, and he had great fun with it going up and down. And I said "Wheeee" every time it went up or down, trying to encourage him... then later he makes a little game out of being picked up and put in my lap then jumping down so I'll pick him up again. And all of a sudden he's saying "Whee! Whee! Whee!" as I'm picking him up.
Bwahahahaha, I am influencing the minds of the young! MOOHAHAHAHAHA!
Seriously though, it was very cute... but I'm not sure I'm ready for dealing with the upkeep of children between the bouts of cute. Maybe someday though... there's other things first. Like finding someone 'available' who can stand being around me for that long, and who I like that much in turn.
Ah well.
Anyways, I do miss Ven and her mum and Dale and Sharla and all. 2 months is a long time to live in a new place. I do intend to go back sometime in the next few years. Not sure when, or under what circumstances, but I will... and for now, it's nice to be in Rochester with Harle and Andy, and it will be nice to be back in New Zealand next Monday.
Sigh. My adventure is almost over, and I don't know what I'll do next.
That reminds me. If any of my family wants me to pick up anything duty-free, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.
You may kiss the bride.
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| Thursday, October 25th, 2007
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7:20 pm - Hokay, so...
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Continuing in my grand tradition of half-assedly late updates...
So last Wednesday, I caught the train from Tacoma, Washington, and went south to Vancouver, Washington, just outside Portland, Oregon. There, I met up with Jen/Havarra (as opposed to Jen/Rill, who lives in the better known Vancouver in Canada.) and Brian. Great people, I think I've said that before. They'd left Jen's daughter, Allyson, with Jen's mother, because Jen was performing that night. So we went to eat at a nice place called Stanford's, and then we went out to 'It's a Beautiful Pizza', where there was a bellydance show. Well, when we got there, there was a Celtic band playing, but when they were done, the show began... once they were all set up, anyways. Middle-eastern music, mostly, with the occasional dancer. Jen was there to play her oud with the band. (Oud rhymes with chewed. That's the least negative word I can think of, which really wouldn't be appropriate here. :P ) It's a string instrument, and she's pretty good at playing it. :)
And Brian, being the evil git that he is, talked one of the dancers into draping her scarf over me at the end of her set.
Also got an experience in tipping the dancers with dollar bills in the waistband. I'm sure my face was on fire.
Thursday, Brian took me to Burgerville to try ‘real’ burgers (I had the pepper bacon burger) and then we stopped by a little store called Odyssey Comics. After that, we met up with Jen and went out to the place where Jen and Brian are getting married, to settle up some final details. Nice place, elegant without being pretentious. It's gonna be a beautiful ceremony. :) And that evening, we went out to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner.
Friday, we went to Fred Meyer’s, a wide-ranging department store, from groceries to, well… pretty much everything. That’s pretty much the only major thing, other than going out to Marino’s Café for another belly-dance show. This time Jen played harp and mandolin as well as the oud. No scarf this time tho. :)
Saturday is when things got really cool. They’d been debating where to take me for sightseeing, and figured the options were things like parks and stuff, or Powell’s bookstore… guess which one I chose? :P Plus I wanted to check out comics/hobby stores. So I got the ‘Geek’s Tour of Portland’. We went to a gaming store called Bridgetown Hobbies, then a comics shop called Things from Another World, we stopped by the local mall where Brian tried to traumatize me by taking me into Hot Topic… Ate at another burger place there, checked out a couple of shops, including a ‘Made in Oregon’ store… While we were there, Brian and Jen remembered that Dark Horse Comics had a shop some miles south of there in Milwaukee. So we went there next.
Only it turns out, while Dark Horse has their offices there, the shop itself was… Things From Another World.
And then to Powell’s! Hot DAMN is that place huge. One city block and four stories high. The sci-fi/fantasy section alone had half a dozen rows at least, and they were LONG rows… so, much as I hated it, I didn’t browse. I just looked for particular things I could think of as stuff I needed to catch up on… Dad, it was “Fortress in the Eye of Time” that got lost in Europe, right? I got that and “Fortress of Dragons”, among others. Would have got more, but a) I didn’t want to blow TOO much money, and b) I had to lug it all home.
Sigh. If there’s ever another chance, I’m making a list before I go.
And that evening, we went to Who-Song and Larry’s, a nutty little Mexican restaurant. Nice food, very hot.
Sunday was Brian’s Amtgardt day. So we dressed up in ‘garb’, including a green tunic Brian had made for me. Fit well, even though Brian had made it without measuring, and had only seen me once at that point. It was close to snug, but not close enough to be a problem. The event itself was interesting. The weather didn’t help, cold and the odd bit of drizzle, and while it was obvious that some of them took the whole thing seriously, the costumes and the ranks and crafting medieval-like stuff, well… I understand that there were a few guys there who were new, but it did seem like a lot of it was kinda…guys hitting each other with fake swords. *shrug*
Still, Brian is damn good at the crafting stuff. Jen’s good too, at painting dragon statues and making jewelry and embroidering and stuff. All in all it was pretty cool. :) Even if we (me, Jen and Allyson) did stop halfway through to warm up at Burger King.
After that, they indulged me further when Jen remembered there was a nearby comics store. That wasn’t there anymore, but there was an archery store that Brian could check out… and then we stopped at another Fred Meyer’s, where I found two of the figures I wanted. Yayzors! I’m down to two now.
Brian also picked up The Muppet Show, Season Two, on DVD. Ahhh, muppets… :D
And then on Monday, I started packing to go back to Ven’s. Brian came in to chat, watched me for five minutes, then suggested we go up to Fred Meyer’s again to get me a duffel bag… man, am I glad we did. I figured I’d have to get one eventually, but doing it now, well… Soooo much easier.
Train ride was uneventful, and I got a cab back to Ven’s. Ah well, all good things.
Just been relaxing the past few days. Today, however, Ven’s mum needed to go to a doctor’s appointment, and Ven couldn’t get the time off to take her, so I was asked to go along, take her there by buss. Bus system isn’t too bad just around here. We made it there a few minutes late, but it all worked out. Got to the appointment, had a look around, went to eat at Old Country Buffet, a smorgas-board style place… good food, ate too much.
Tomorrow, I’m gonna try and track down a couple more figures, take the bus out to some shops maybe. If I can’t track them down, eh, I’ll just hang out.
Nothing planned for Saturday, but Sunday, we should be doing some sightseeing in Seattle with Rill and Becca, so I’m gonna see what we get to do there, and then see about doing a couple of things on Monday and Tuesday, maybe Wednesday… Sunday evening, we’re gonna go see another of Ven’s friends play in a band.
Next Thursday, I fly from here to New York… it’s weird to think this will all be over so soon. In some ways, I don’t want to leave yet… in a lot of others, I’m looking forward to eventually going home… and of course, in the meantime, I’ll be visiting Harlequin. :D
More later. :)
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| Thursday, October 11th, 2007
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11:31 pm - Allllllrighty then....
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Not a lot to report here. I'm well, just hangin' out and all, yo.
Next Wednesday I shall take a train down to Vancouver2, the one near Portland, for to be visiting of the Jen. We'll hang out and I'll go to her shows and stuffs like that. I'll be staying until the following Monday. Should be neat. :)
One bit of good news, but it's not mine. For ages Venny has been out of sorts with her job. Too much stress, not enough authority to really get things done, understaffing, no support from management, all the good stuff. So, quite rightly, she quits last Monday. Hands in her two-weeks notice. She's been looking for new jobs as well, spent last weekend perfecting her resume online. And then, Wednesday, two days after she hands in notice, she gets an interview. She goes there after work. And today she finds out she has the job. Starts on the 29th. She is sooo happy about it, too. She likes the hours, she likes the work, she says it's a good environment, and if she can stay there for a year she will have enough experience to move into doing the brokerage stuff she really wants to do, AND it will get her closer to being able to move to Canada like she wants.
So yay for the Venny! :D :D :D
Wierd thing though. The new job is for a customs brokerage place near the SeaTac airport... and three days after she starts there, she'll have to take me in early to catch the plane...
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| Monday, October 1st, 2007
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11:57 am - I wonder where that fish has gone
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Random Monty Python quote there. Just because I love you all. :P
This is really just a post to touch base, post for the sake of posting. There hasn't been anything all that interesting lately. Kind of in a 'relaaaax' frame of mind, just enjoying the holiday, hanging out with Ven.
Still... it's the 1st of October here. On the 1st of November I will be flying outta here to visit Harle in Rochester, New York. And then on November 10 I fly back to New Zealand.
6 weeks in total.
5 and a half here in Seattle.
4 weekends left here.
Gonna have to give some more thought to getting out and doing stuff. Go for walks in the local area, although I don't know that there's all that much to see in walking distance. Hasn't seemed like it when me and Ven went driving to Jack in the Box or on the other little trips. There is one place I might go, try a cheese steak sandwich...
Gonna try and figure out a trip to Seattle. I really wanna take Ven along cuz I enjoy her company and I like having company for this kinda thing. But, well, can only do that on a weekend, and I have to acknowledge that I have 5 other days in the week I could do stuff. Much as I love playing WoW. So... need to figure where I'm going, how I'm getting there. I'm thinking the Pike Place market, the zoo, the aquariums, museums... Ven wants to see the Space Needle and the underground tour... hmmmm, my friend Tony has suggested Boeing and Microsoft...
Head explodey.
Also wanna visit Jen in Portland as well. Again, I want Ven to be along for that because Jen's a mutual friend. On the chance that she can't (she'd only be able to on a weekend as it is), I guess I'm gonna haveta think about maybe taking the train down on my own... Which means it should probably be during the week... hmmm.
Other than that, I'm just enjoying my time here, not having to worry too much about stuff. Livin' la vida sloca.
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| Thursday, September 20th, 2007
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2:01 am - Life, the Universe, and Everything... in microcosm.
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12:41 am - I so lazy...
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Blaaaaahhhh, I haven't posted here in a while. Like always, there isn't much to say. Only really one day worth talking about.
On Saturday, we (being me, Ven, and Ven's mum) went up to Mount Rainier Park (yes, Francesca, I got a fridge magnet) to find a resting place for Ven's pet rat, Quinn. It's a nice place, freaking huge though. But man, is it an awesome park. There are no words to describe it really, no words to do it justice. Shame though, there used to be a river there once, but it flooded and left a lot of debris and destruction and it redirected the river... still, even that was impressive.
Also, because Mount Rainier is between Tacoma and the southern Vancouver where Jen (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) gypsyharper) lives, we arranged to meet her there. And so I got to meet, in person and for the first time, Jen, Jen's daughter Allyson, and Jen's fiancee Brian. That was pretty cool. It was great meeting Jen in person after having talked to her heaps online. She really is as nice as she seems. :) And Brian's an interesting guy, he seems to have done about everything. Survivalist; tech support for Windows 95, 98 and Dell; volunteer firefighting; and he does live action fantasy roleplay. Not only that, but he's a pretty interesting guy to talk to. And Allyson is a hyperactive blur of a kid. She had a Gameboy with her, and she went around our little group offering it to everyone so they could play her Eragon game. And dear god is she into bugs, pretty much any bug we saw at the park, she identified pretty much on sight.
So we met up with them just outside the park, and then we all drove in to the nearest little parking lot, and from there we headed up the hiking trail. I got a bunch of photos. It was an amazing place, really. And after what seemed ages, we made it to what used to be the river, but was now a dry, sandy stream bed, and that's where the trail crossed. That was more or less where we want to be, as Jason had previously told Ven there are some nice places up that way. So Ven and Brian went looking for somewhere suitable for Quinn, then came back for me, Jen and Allyson. And Ven picked out a large rock for a marker.
I carried that, of course.
Because the trail got steep from there, we left Ven's mum beside the once-river, sitting in a folding lawn chair (again, carried by me, fortunately it had a carry bag) while we went ahead. And boy was the trail steep in places. A little hard to navigate while carrying a large rock in one arm, but I did my best to freak Ven out by running almost full-tilt down a steepish slope. Didn't fall, yay! I iz coordinated.
Then we reached the spot Ven picked, and she broke out her army excavation tool (seriously, it's a tiny shovel), and dug the hole. I offered, but she wanted to do it herself. That's pretty understandable, really, considering. So she buried her dear pet, Quinn, placed the rock, and we took a huge bunch of pictures of the spot and views. It was important to Ven that there be nice views and a stream, and that's what she got.
After that, we all hiked back to the cars, then went to dinner at an inn we'd passed on the way to the park. There was a deer eating grass at the edge of the carpark, first deer I've ever seen, at least the first wild. It was almost tame, actually, since it didn't seem at all worried by us, or even by the cars driving past. I mean, it's head came up at every car, but it never bolted. So Brian tried to feed it a potato chip, but it wasn't THAT tame, and wandered off. Then we saw that it didn't wander at random... it wandered towards its baby. So cute. And we watched them make their leisurely way across the road to graze in a nearby field.
The inn was pretty nice, pretty classy. Even had a little tower, which apparently had suites. That would be so cool. I had the scallops, Ven had swordfish (I tried a bit, it wasn't bad), Jen and Brian had steaks, Allyson had fettucine, and I don't remember what Ven's mum had. And then, for dessert, they ordered the 'mile high mud pie' for Allyson, but that proved to be a little more than she could handle, so we all had a bit. Niiiice stuff.
And then Ven doomed Jen and Brian to enduring a two hour ride with an over-hyped nine year old by buying the kid a little bug catcher locket thing. Man, you should have seen the look on Allyson's face.
Oh, and we're planning to go down to see Jen and Brian again, and apparently there's a Pirate festival going on...
Nothing much happened Sunday. I think we all slept late after that hike. High point of the night was, Ven had her sister drop off some Arby's for us. Arby's is a sandwich place, completely amazing food. Ven hands me a wrapped sandwich, tells me I'll like it, and toddles off. And oh, how right she was.
Since then, it's been pretty quiet, really. Same ol', same ol'. It's amazing how accustomed I am to this place, but I guess spending a month anywhere that has a bed and an internet connection will do that for me.
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| Saturday, September 15th, 2007
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1:24 am - Drinking
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So tonight me, Ven and Ven's friend Jason went out to a bar, Schooners. Fun place, the walkway up to it is all wooden planks like a dock. Bit of worry at the door, there was no cover charge, but they would not accept my NZ driver's license. They did accept my passport tho, so yay. Played a couple of games of darts.
And I am officially the closest to drunk I have ever been in my life. Most I ever drank in my life at one time. A glass each of two different beers, one bourbon and coke, one rum and coke, one jagermeister and coke, one jagermeister shot and three sambucca shots. But I think I'm just buzzed. Apparently I drink too slow, and maybe too far apart. My head feels sorta fuzzy, I have a slight headache (but that might have been from the heat and noise at the bar)... if I sit still, I feel ok, almost clear-headed, but then I move and the fuzzy feeling returns. And yet I feel rational. Almost coldly rational. So far, I've just gotten quiet and rational. Maybe slightly mopey.
And I got to watch Ven flirt with Jason... well, it was mostly Jason flirting with Ven, and then Ven had a couple of drinks and I guess she loosened up. Still mostly Jason, but Ven a little more. Thing is, Jason is married, although he says he's separating from his wife... And Ven will say, show her the paperwork that makes it all legal. But still, she told me she would probably date him if he weren't married. And he's kinda that kind of flirty, playful guy.
So, yeah, kinda flirting all night.
Fun times.
EDIT: I went to bed somewhere after 1 in the morning. I woke at five and ws not able to get back to sleep. Slight headache, head was still a little fuzzy, and my stomach was churning. I feel a bit better after throwing up. At 7 I gave up on sleep, hence I'm online now.
Alcohol and me are not good friends, and if this is what I feel like after not really being all that drunk, screw it.
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| Wednesday, September 12th, 2007
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9:29 pm - Where did that week go?
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Wow, a week has gone already. Didn't realise until my sister e-mailed and pointed it out.
Problem is, I haven't done much. Haven't felt very active. And Ven decided not to go to the National Guard weekend, but she's still stressed, so I figured it best not to bother her too much. We did go to Jack in the Box, a fast food place, for take out burgers. I had the Ultimate Cheeseburger, very nice, and Ven ordered a couple of sampler trio packs, which had mozzarella sticks, stuffed jalapeno peppers, and chicken nuggets, all of which were in very spicy batter. If we get that again, I think I'm getting a soft drink instead of a shake. Shakes don't do jack when your mouth is on fire, probably because you don't get much at a time. Still, nice stuff.
But Ven's dog, Beau, was watching me eat, so I tossed him a bit of chicken. Several bits. So now he knows that I am a 'food giver', I guess, because he keeps watching me through my doorway. In fact, the next morning... well, Ven is trying to get him to do tricks in exchange for treats. Sit, lie down, shake hands. So the next morning, he's at the gate that we put in the doorway to keep him out (I don't actually have a door), and then he looks at me, he sits, and puts his paws up on the gate. Without being prompted.
Goofy dog.
This weekend we should be heading to Mt Rainier for a picnic day and such. Looking forward to it.
Interesting thing I have discovered: I am not a tourist. I am not filled with the thrill of discovery. It's not that I don't like going new places and seeing new things, I guess it's more that I am comfortable with what I know. So while I am curious about Seattle, I'm reluctant to venture out by myself. Partly because it involves a long train ride and who knows how many bus trips to get around. Partly because I enjoy having someone around for something like that.
Scoff if you will, that's just me. Would probably feel a little different about solo trips if I was used to the area or knew exactly where I was going...
So I guess that means back to the drawing board.
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| Wednesday, September 5th, 2007
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7:57 pm - September already?
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Wow, time sure does fly. Ok, since my last post...
Friday evening, me and Ven drove up to Vancouver. Well, Ven drove. Basically, we were taking advantage of the Labor Day weekend. So it was nice to see Rill again, and to meet Rill's house guest, Tony. He's someone they know through ball-jointed doll collecting and such. Nice guy, has a huge scope of hobbies, most of which seem to focus back on his dolls... or maybe it just seems that way because the dolls are what he has in common with Ven and Rill. More or less. Actually, I met him briefly at the convention a couple of weeks ago, but didn't talk to him much.
So, Saturday... we went out for a bit, went to a place called Book-Off and purchased books and CDs. Well, I bought a few books for $2 each. Most of the merchandise was in an Asian language (I'm not sure if it was just one, or several different), but there were some shelves of books in English, so that's what I got. And while we were there, Chris showed up. She's another collector of dolls, and I met her briefly at the con too. This wasn't coincidence, of course, it was arranged she'd meet us there. She arrived by bus.
So we all piled back into Rill's car and went to the local gardens. Nice place, very nice. Lots of roses and stuff. I got a picture of a squirrel, and we all had a go on the swings, except Tony. So that was fun.
After that, we dropped Chris off and went to Granville Island. As far as I can tell, it's like a small neighborhood devoted entirely to shops and touristy stuff. So we looked at an art shop, went wandering around the Granville Market, and then that evening we (Chris met up with us again) went to a theatre sports show there, based on the Works of Shakespeare. It was pretty funny. There was 'Shakespeare' as an announcer, and six actors. Three were comedians, three were tragedians, and they disagreed as to whether the second half of the show would be comedy or tragedy. So the first half was a contest. A bunch of small skits, with their 'King and Queen' judging. The first go was decided by a contest of insults, where they would ask the audience for an item, and then two of them would spar with plastic swords before one insulted the other. (When the object was 'an egg', the insult was 'You are much like an egg, for you have only ever been laid once'). Let's see, there was a skit about headaches, one about a guy trying to wheedle some tofu and ended up selling his soul, another about putting in a new jacuzzi, and one about a shoemaker making shoes for a lady with fat feet. The last two were done with random sound effects, and the actors had to justify the sound effects, and in the case of the shoemaker, a couple in the audience were given the authority to say 'rewrite', and the actors would say something different to replace the previous line. Usually the opposite.
And then we had the tragedy of the signmaker! In which a formerly dyslexic signmaker has become the toast of the town, with his fancy painted signs. But his nemesis, Stan Serif, who uses computers to print inferior signs, sets his minions, Courier and Ariel, to destroy the signmaker! So they start by ruining his reputation on the 'Book of Face', accessed through the 'Net of Inter', and then they cast doubt on his latest masterpiece, which instructs people 'Do not klaw'... and then a blind guy gets hit by a car because there are no signs for blind people. Overcome with shame, the signmaker flees into the forest, where he meets a strange mystic who instructs him to look into the sign of his heart (which reads 'Children at play', so he decides he must be like a child. No pride, no shame, just joy in his art). Renewed, the signmaker rushes back to town, only to find that Stan Serif's minions have killed the signmaker's girlfriend with a series of computer viruses, and that the signmaker's best friend, owner of a chocolate shop, was forced to make a crappy sign because the signmaker was not there to make it, and thus went out of business. Enraged, the friend kills Stan Serif, only to be struck down by his own 'Chocolate Shoppe' sign. Death by Chocolate! So the signmaker wreaks his revenge, first killing one with the greatest brush in the land, Excalibur, then painting a sign, 'Go to Death' that convinced the other minion to walk under a bus. Then, grieving, the signmaker killed himself by choking on his girlfriend's fingers. All very wierd and wacky.
And one of the actors was a dead ringer for Jim Carrey, but with bleached hair. Mannerisms, expressions, voice...
And on Sunday, Ven went for a piano lesson with Becca, and me, Rill and Tony went looking around a couple of shopping malls in Richmond. I bought a few Final Fantasy figures, and Tony bought a couple of statuettes. Then we met up with Chris and went to Metropolis mall. Huuuuge place. Rill abandoned us to go for dinner with her grandparents, and we all shopped around a bit, met up with Tony's friend Alena, and then we all went to Cactus Club Cafe for dinner. I had a burger, very nice. Bacon cheeseburger, basically. And then we met up with Ven and Becca and all went to the Night Market, basically one big flea market. We picked up a few knick knacks, tried ethnic food. Fun times were had by all. Unfortunately, when I got back to Rill's place, I opened one of the figures, and the leg broke. Seems the joint was deformed and when I turned it, snap.
Monday, we went out again. I tried to return the figure, but they said they couldn't fix it, they don't refund, and they don't have stock of that one to replace with. So I ended up seeking advice at a hobby store and will try putting in a metal pin. We'll see how that goes. We went back to Granville Island, wandered around a bit, talked to a glass blower. Oh, and there was a street performer. He got me to participate in his finale, but why he thought it would be a good idea to get me to throw knives to him, I do not know. :) Still, I didn't hurt him, and it was fun.
We drove back to Tacoma Monday night, and since then I've just been hanging out again. S'all good, all the time.
Except for a tragedy last night. Ven has pet rats, and she loves them little buggers. The first was Quinn, a couple of years ago. And last night, Quinn... left. 2 and a half years old, when rats live three at most, and she had tumors. So we knew she was going, but she seemed to be doing so well over the weekend and when we got back. Calm before the storm, I guess. Passed away in Ven's hands. We'll be going to Mt Rainier in a couple of weeks to find a resting place. Would be this weekend, but Ven has National Guard duty, and she wants to make a day of it. More at Ven's journal, votgs.
That's about all for now... Ven's gonna be doing National Guard duty this weekend, as I said, so I might venture to Seattle if I figure the best way to get there...
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| Wednesday, August 29th, 2007
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1:29 pm - And now for something completely different.
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Inspired by kippurbird, not to mention she created half of them.
True-ish Facts About Jace!!!
- Jace owns the moon. He rents it to the world governments for an annual fee of two million dollars.
- Jace dug the Panama Canal. In five days. With a popsicle stick.
- Jace is not the furry artist you are looking for.
- Star Wars was originally supposed to include 'Jace Knights', but George Lucas couldn't meet the asking price.
- Jace likes the movies though, so has relented and allowed 'Jacen Solo'.
- There is no ozone hole over the Antarctic. The ozone there is simply afraid of Jace.
- Jace put p0rn on the internetz. He needed something to distract the world during his takeover bid.
- He is still in negotiations with Kippur over territories.
- Once Jace sneezed so hard he caused a hurricane.
- Jace started Jackass. People hurt themselves because he says so. However, he never watches the episodes because that's not his thing.
- The Mythbusters once tried to bust the Jace myth... but couldn't find any evidence supporting or denying his existence.
- Jace wrote Dr Evil's post grad thesis.
- If man is five and the devil is six, then Jace is pi. (Mmmm, pi)
- Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus and Jace is from the asteroid belt.
- Iran is stockpiling nuclear material. Jace needed somewhere to store the auxiliary power for his Nintendo DS.
- Jace has the WMD in his basement.
- Jace has no basement. This is why the WMD were never found. But they're there.
- Jace handles stage fright by imagining the audience in their underwear.
- Jace is The Man.
- All cartoons must meet Jace's approval before they can be aired. There are no bad cartoons, just Jace exercising his perverse sense of humor.
- Cancellations happen because Jace gets distracted. It happens someti.... oooh, shiny!
- Jace knows how Lost ends. It involves penguins.
- Jace is Sylar's hero.
- When they say "Get your freak on", they mean Jace.
- Jace needs more blood in his sugar stream.
- The monsters under the bed are afraid of Jace.
- There is life on other planets. Jace keeps it there.
- Jace keeps the button to the apocalypse on his bathroom wall.
- Jace is the Fifth Horseman.
- Jace performs all the stunts in wrestling matches. For both wrestlers.
- When Jace wrestles, it's not fake.
- Charlie is Jace's frontman, because "Jace's Angels" didn't sound quite right.
- There are no real psychics. They channel from Jace. He doesn't like to be bothered directly for predictions or speaking to spirits.
- Jace builds all of the A-Team's vehicles.
- Jace is also the reason the A-Team's plans come together.
- Jace lets Tattoo know when the plane is going to land.
- There is a Starbucks on every corner because Jace likes their frappuccinos just that much. That's the only reason.
- Jace is the Sundance Kid.
- Jace doesn't need to be in space to see the Great Wall.
- The Leaning Tower of Pisa is Jace's fault.
- It wasn't San Andreas' Fault until Jace framed him.
Jace apologises for that joke.
- Jace sank the Titanic.
- Jace caused global warming. His feet were cold.
- Jace does not fear the mob. He is the mob.
- Jace is the mastermind behind reality TV. It was cheaper than lobotomising the world.
- Jace. That's all that needs to be said.
- Jace invented the slam dunk.
- There is no secret formula for Coca-Cola. It's really just distilled essence of Jace.
- Pepsi happens when people copy distilled essence of Jace. And add lemon.
- Jace can kill you with his brain.
- James Bond was created to emulate Jace.
- Jace lost his temper once. Shortly after, Stan Lee published the first Incredible Hulk comic. Coincidence?
- It was originally the Fantastic Five, but Stan Lee didn't think anyone would believe Jace's powers.
- Jace doesn't walk anywhere. The earth spins under him.
- Jace is the top of the food chain.
- Jace will never die. The Grim Reaper is his poker buddy, and Jace hasn't lost a game yet.
- Jace knows where you live.
- Jace can also see your house from here.
- Jace didn't need to climb Mount Everest. It bent down for him.
- Jace wrote the Rosetta Stone.
- Jace has brass knuckles. And diamond fingernails.
- Without Jace, there would be no holidays.
- The Halo games are based on some of Jace's diaries. The ones marked 'vacation'.
- Jace created the real Jurassic Park.
- Jared didn't lose weight because of Subway. That's just an excuse to cover his fear of Jace.
- Your insurance doesn't cover 'Acts of Jace'.
- Paris Hilton exists to distract people from Jace's doings.
- There was going to be a reality show based on Jace's life, but the effects budget was too high.
- Jace is the real king of rock and roll.
- Jace took the bite out of Apple.
- Jace is ineffable.
- Jace cannot be removed using common household cleaners.
- However Jace can be removed with Coca-Cola.
- Jace is fluent in jibba jabba, fool.
- People created the Enigma machine to translate Jace-Speak.
- Jace doesn't need to mark his territory. Everyone already knows.
- Jace has spontaneously combusted. Every other Sunday.
- Jace has his own theme song and it plays when ever he walks into a room.
- Darth Vader prays to Jace for inspiration.
- Jace also dares to give Dark Helmet the Rassberry.
- Jace has won the MTV Music Awards every year... or would have, if people would stop pointing out he's not a musician.
- Dinosaurs became extinct because Jace got bored with them.
- Don King once received a stern lecture from Jace. King's hair hasn't come down since.
- William Shatner learned everything he knows about acting from Jace.
- Jace sincerely apologizes for not teaching him more.
- Rap was accidentally created by Jace when he let his cat in a recording studio.
- Jace makes sure there's always gold in the pot at the end of the rainbow.
- Jace sunbathes in volcanoes.
- Jace doesn't need to wear sunglasses. The sun knows better than to try hurting his eyes.
- Jace is the god of small things lost in the couch. He is very popular.
- Jace created Cherry Coke. Even he has bad ideas for April Fools.
- The use of Jace is banned by the Geneva Conventions.
- Sherlock Holmes copied Jace.
- Jace saved Apollo Thirteen.
- Jace stopped the sun. He did not approve of its plans.
- Jace knows who is in Grant's tomb.
- Jace also knows what's in the secret sauce. The two are not related.
- Jace can eat jalapenos without fear.
- In Soviet Russia, drugs are addicted to Jace.
- Only you can prevent Jace.
- Jace set you up the bomb.
current mood:  amused
current music: Spongebob Squarepants theme tune
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(comment on this)
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12:11 pm - Catching up
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Well, let's see now. Stuff of interest...
Ok, I've mentioned that the house where I am staying is crowded, what with Ven, her mother, sister, brother-in-law and the sister's two kids, and now me. So, and I presume this would be considered even if I wasn't here, there are tentative plans to turn the basement into a several-room apartment for the sister's family. Part of this will include replacing the windows down there, as they have been boarded up for a while, and are also very old glass. So they have started seeking quotes from contractors.
Because of this, two guys came around on Friday at 6pm. Nice people, really. Originally, the younger one did the talking and the older guy, being a sales manager, simply observed. That didn't last long and the older guy ended up taking over. It was kind of funny to watch. Ven had to be home as she's the major leaseholder, and as is typical after a long day, she felt kind of harassed anyways. So for once she got herself a beer or two. Her sister decided to have a beer as well. So we have sharp and incisive Ven, who has been drinking, her overly-chatty and vocal sister, also drinking, and Ven's mother, who isn't always altogether 'with it', all inflicting themselves on two unsuspecting salesmen. The poor guys were there for five hours.
And the battle commenced. Sales dude did his spiels, showed us samples of competitor's work, and then talked up his own product. He didn't try to hide it, really. He talked about how wood frames are the high end stuff, but very costly. Meanwhile, for lower price, there's certain plastic frames and designs you can get, etc., but they're less robust or won't last as long. And so we come to the stuff his company is pimping, solid design and materials, etc., at a price midrange between the high end wood and the inferior plastic. He even made sure to stop at several points and individually ask Ven, her mother and her sister, things like "So do you feel our company is one that you can trust?" and "Would you trust our product?", and so on.
And then Ven, having up until that point apparently not been paying attention as she plays with her hair, asks why the competitor samples don't have glass in them. (Turns out that the samples he showed, he cut himself, as the official samples look more like art deco cookie-cutters, about a centimetre thick.)
So, essentially, while the sales guys are doing their darnedest to make their pitch and reinforce it at every turn, Ven and her family are playing games with them, side-tracking the conversation and testing them, asking all sorts of questions, taking them to see the windows in question just to see how the guys will react, and so on. Ven's brother-in-law had until this point stayed out of it, out of the room entirely, but he suggested, when the salesmen were out of earshot, that if they really wanted to be cruel, bring him in and have him ask everything all over again.
So it goes on like this for five hours, occasional smoke and drink breaks included (at one time he older guy asks to use the bathroom, then comes out and compliments the claw-footed tub they have in there), and at the end of it Ven and her posse promise to think about and they get a quote and all. If Ven decides not to go with their bid, it won't be for lack of trying on the part of the salesmen. And Ven had fun, horrible tease that she is. :)
Saturday was fairly quiet. Ven needed her sleep. She was supposed to come down around one, but she was feeling reclusive and stayed upstairs until about 6, then came down for dinner. And we watched 'Mr and Mrs Smith'... or tried to, over the noise of the TV the kids were watching in the next room.
Oh, and at some point over the last few days, I helped Ven's mum with the beginnings of a spice rack. Basically it just involves cutting boards and then screwing little bits of wood into place to support the boards/shelves. The frame is taken care of, it's a small cupboard that used to be home to an ironing board. The shelves are a touch wobbly so far, but apparently I can make a reasonably straight cut with a power saw. It doesn't feel like I'm getting it all that straight while cutting, but... well, who knew? Not that I intend to take up carpentry; I mean, the project has been kinda fun but it doesn't exactly inspire me. I am considering therapy tho. I mean, being a therapist. More on that later.
Sunday, me and Ven went out and about for a bit. It was kind of a 'get out of the house' sort of thing, but we didn't have any real destinations in mind, so we drove around Old Tacoma a little (partly because Venny, by her own admission, isn't so good with navigating areas she's not familiar with. Not that I'd know, I don't know the area AT ALL). There's some nice old buildings around, and I need to go back and get more pictures at some point. Anyways, once we found our way, we ended up at a small shopping complex. First we went into PetsMart (or is that PetSmart?). Biiiig pet store, all sorts of critters. Cats and little lizards and hamsters and guinea pigs. And all manner of caretaking stuff. Wow.
Once we were done there, we went across to Target, and I went looking for action figures. I found some Marvel ones, but they only had six out of 8 of the series. And when I got back to Ven's house, I found that one of them was incomplete. So I had to take that back on Monday. It was refunded quite readily, even tho I had partially opened it. Yay!
After Target, we tried a nice little comics shop, where me and Ven both saw stuff we were contemplating going back for... and then we tried Toys R Us. Where I found a different series of Marvel Legends. But only four out of six. Seriously, WTF? Both times, two different series, and there's all but two of the series? Gah. Oh well, I'll track them down or order online or something, I guess.
Ven had gone into work extra early on Monday, cuz they give her more work than time, and won't allow overtime. So we let her sleep when she got home. Side effect of that was she didn't have supper, so I'm not sure if we made the right choice...
Tuesday, I went back to Target with Ven's sister, again just to get out of the house. Nothing new for me there tho, but school's beginning soon so the kids needed uniforms and other new clothes. Hung out with Ven when she got home tho. We watched 'Ghost Rider' and 'Shawshank Redemption'. Ven insisted when she found out I'd never actually watched Shawshank... bloody good movie tho. Thanks Ven!
Ghost Rider was pretty good for a comicbook movie. Plenty of style and pretty effects. Another Nick Cage movie I'll watch again. :D
I don't expect to do much else this week, other than hang out with Ven, which is cool in itself. We are going to Vancouver for Labour Day (three day weekend!... yeah, well, doesn't change MY time, but it's three days of hanging out with Ven), so I should get to do some more tourism there. :) I'll eventually go out into Seattle or something, gonna take a few walks around Tacoma first... when I'm ready and all. :)
Writing is as slow as ever. I have about a dozen ideas to develop, don't know where to begin or how to start them. But I'll get there. One step at a time. I've made a start on one story...
Still don't know what I'll do when I get back to New Zealand. Look for work, I guess. Will start with bookstores, and then go from there... but it occurred to me recently that I do kinda like listening to people (there are occasional frictions here, what with all the people, and I've been asked for an opinion a couple of times), and I do like trying to advise and offer meaningful help. So I'm wondering if psychology or psychiatry is a field I should look into. Major consideration is the investment of time and work. It's a lot to consider, really. But, well, if I ever want to visit the States again... it'll be a while before I save up enough anyways, and I hardly want to get a job and leave it in a few months anyways. Wouldn't look so good on the resume. So if I do come back it won't be for a while. Unless I study here. Or something.
On the other hand, as Ven said, therapy is practically a hobby in some places in America, so it's not like there's no chance of work in that field.
I dunno. I'm gonna think about it some more. I have about 2 and a half months before I need to make any decisions anyways.
Anyways, barring anything interesting in the next couple of days, I'll probably update again next week. Ciao!
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, August 23rd, 2007
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10:11 am - Three things we do not have in New Zealand.
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Well, three among many. And as far as I know, I've never seen them.
Olive Garden, JC Penny's, and Sears.
Olive Garden is kind of an Italian restaurant. Now, in Auckland at least, we might have an Italian place or two, and we certainly have restaurants. This one was pretty swank tho. Service was good, food was good. Portions were huge. They had to bring the plates out on giant platters and set them down on folding stand things. Not often I'd seen that back home. I had the Lasagna Classico, but everything sounded good.
Now, I was out with Ven's mother, Ven's sister, and the sister's family. Ven was tired so she stayed home (and enjoyed the novelty of a quiet house for once!). Ven's sister is looking for a new car, so we stopped by the Tacoma Mall so she could check out a car lot. While we did that, I went wandering around JC Penny's and Sears.
Considering how much of a geek I am, it shouldn't surprise anyone that I collect action figures. I picked up a few Final Fantasy ones while at the anime convention. I wasn't expecting to find the rest of the series in a department store, but I thought I might find Marvel or transformers, at least. Wrong. The stores were definitely bigger and perhaps even a little more high class than the department stores back home (Warehouse and K-Mart definitely do not compare. Farmers is closer), but they had no toy departments at all. They had everything else, all nicely laid out and all, but apparently they only sell toys in Christmas season.
That blows my mind. Department stores back home always sell toys. But, other than that it was a nice evening.
I think I might try ordering some figures online. Shipping would be a LOT easier while I'm in the states, at least...
And I need to figure out why my phone is going dead in a few hours rather than a few days. It's been doing it since I charged it on an American outlet, but I used an adaptor... could that really screw up the battery so much? My DS doesn't seem to have that problem, and I've been using it a LOT.
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(6 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007
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11:45 am - The Jace Has Landed
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Mmmkay, technically I landed 8 days ago, but I've been settling in and stuffs. Plus, I've only had internet connection for about three days. Weeeeell, I COULD have borrowed Ven's, but I didn't want to invade her room without her being around. I'm wierd like that. And I didn't want to use her sister's laptop too much cuz I didn't want to be seen to be taking up more time on it than deserved, or something. I am a guest here, after all.
So anyways... first business. The Flight.
Man, I hit a huge pocket of airport suckiness. Not that the airport staff were a problem, they were generally polite and helpful. However, the plane leaving Auckland had to arrive from Melbourne first. And it was an hour late. Seems there was a security scare in Melbourne, something to do with a package that didn't get checked going through customs, so they made everyone leave the terminal and go through checking their baggage again. So, hour late getting to Auckland, during which time all we were told is 'delayed'. They couldn't even tell us what gate it would be leaving from.
So I get to Los Angeles an hour later than expected. And my connecting flight leaves an hour after that. And I'm still at the back of a loooooong, very slow customs line. With only one office processing people. JOY! Thankfully, after all the US citizens had been processed (there were four officers on THAT line), some of us were taken across to the newly available officers. And the airline had rebooked me on a later connecting flight. So after I found the right terminal (thanks to one very helpful woman who was also collecting for charity, and a slightly intrusive guy who gave me a philosophy book and asked for a donation), I checked my luggage again, which, by the way, had lost a zipper tag somewhere in mid transit. Then I got pointed in the wrong direction for the x-ray machine, but luckily the right one wasn't THAT far away. Just meant a lot of waiting in lines, first to check the luggage, then in a customer service queue after finding out the place I was pointed to wasn't there, and then in the line to drop off my luggage at the machine.
And then I went through security. That was interesting. Had to put stuff like my watch, wallet and such in a plastic ziplock bag, and I had to take my shoes off so they'll be x-rayed. That's fun. And while I'm waiting in line, some airport guy comes by and marks my boarding pass with yellow hi-liter. This, I am told, means I have been selected for 'special' screening. Which wasn't too bad, really. I got to keep my clothes on, and there were no rubber gloves... no, wait, I think he did wear gloves, but they stayed outside of me. So it was just a quick patdown, then I got to watch while various of my possessions were wiped down with little cloth swabs that were then put in an odd machine. Oh, and he started with a joke. "Have you ever been through this hass... I mean, procedure before?"
According to my boarding pass, I was departing at 3:15pm. By the time I got to the departure lounge, it was about 2:45. Ven had been expecting me to call her at least an hour ago, maybe two. So the first order of business was to call her... before I could do that, I needed quarters and instructions on how to use the local payphones. I haven't used a payphone in YEARS! But I figured it out in a bit, and soon there was a mellow twang coming through from the other side. This would be probably the third time I'd ever heard Ven's voice in the last nine years, but not the last, obviously. :) Anyways, I told her I should be leaving soon, and I better go board. All was good.
Until I got to the actual departure gate for my flight and found that it was at least 15 minutes delayed. Boarding time was now 3:07, new departure at 3:37. In retrospect, I should have called Ven again to warn her. Especially once I saw that the boarding time had changed to 3:09, when the current time was 3:18... I didn't want to miss any announcements tho. Good thing too, because the acoustics in that place did NOT make the public address system the slightest bit understandable. But eventually I was on a cramped little plane, NOTHING like the 747 I flew in on. And the seats were numbered funny. I mean, ok, first class had bigger seats, so maybe it's not too odd that they were numbered A, C, and then D, F on the other side of the aisle. But why were the economy seats, where I was, labelled A, B, C and then D, F? It boggles me. Where was the E seat?
Then I had to wait a bit while the flight staff tried to figure out why the doors weren't all showing as closed, and then the taxiing went in fits and starts cuz of traffic on the runways... finally, however, we were in the air. I spent most of the trip trying to catch up on sleep, or chatting to the girl in the seat next to me. She was nice, really, but even if she hadn't had a boyfriend, I don't think I woulda tried anything. Wasn't going to see her again anyways.
Once at the SeaTac (Seattle/Tacoma, for anyone who hasn't been there) airport, I found that it was a lot easier to go through, because there were no customs. Whee! All I had to do was find my baggage... and Ven. She found me tho. "Well, I could see you from a distance", or something along those lines, was the first thing she said. And while I knew she was a petite person, I don't think I was quite prepared for how petite. Not that I minded, tho I kept thinking to myself "that's the long and the short of it" jokes... Poor Ven tho. My flight's luggage was delayed coming off the plane, so by the time I got my bags and we got back to her car, she'd been parked for 2 hours and 49 minutes. During which time some guy kept hitting on her. We went outside so she could smoke while waiting for my bag, and I think the guy musta seen me with her, cuz he followed us out and then stood nearby, smoking. And then once we were actually leaving, he made a point of crossing our path to say goodbye to her...
Ven's family have been pretty nice to me, despite the inconveniences of having to shift people around to give me a place to sleep. There were six people living here before I arrived, including two rowdy kids, one nine and one five. Oy. Still, it's been good. Her mother is lovely, and very chatty. :) Yesterday I helped her repair a hamper. I cut a piece of wood for the lid, hammered the lid to the frame, stapled on the fabric cover she prepared, and then hammered the latch on and screwed the lid back onto the hamper. It was kind of fun.
On Wednesday 14th, me and Ven went to have dinner with D (or Donavun as some might remember him). Good thing we did, as he was shipping out for 45 days of training or exercises the next day. I also met his wife at the same time, and she seems likea nice person, pretty cool and all. We went to Appleby's, where I had a fairly nice plate of fish and chips, and then we went to D's place to watch 300 on his big-screen tv.
Awesome movie.
D, by the way, seems very somber and quiet online, which I think helped contribute to him being dubbed 'preacher' or something like it by an acquaintance from our Diablo days. I believe I was told D had also officiated at an online wedding, so that might have had something to do with it too. Anyways, D is actually a very funny, very friendly guy, and I look forward to hanging out with him again when he gets back from his army stuff.
Thursday the 16th, me and Ven took a trip, after she finished work, up to Vancouver for the Anime Evolution convention. What followed was three solid days of being on my feet for ages, getting up at five in the morning to get there on time for setting up the CyberJAR booth, and seeing a lot of odd people and cool costumes. Now, I'm not the entrepreneurial type, and I will admit it. But Ven? She shone. She was in charge of the 'Lucky Fortune' game and preparing 'Friendship Tags'. And she. was. amazing. Always friendly, always bubbly, always ready with an answer or a spiel... at least while people were around, because otherwise she was pretty tired, like all of us. But she is so devoted to making sure that the CyberJAR booth succeeds, she'd probably wear herself down to a shadow if she had to. Fortunately, it didn't come to that.
Still, I think she's pretty awesome.
CyberJAR is mostly a collaborative effort between two artists, Rill and Yllyor (as I mostly know them), so I met them properly too. Probably not the best time for meeting, as the convention had them both pretty distracted and busy, but Rill is a real sweetie, and she also lent me the laptop I'm using right now. Must find some way to thank her properly. And Ylly is nice enough, I guess, but she's definitely the quietest one, and fairly reserved. I get the feeling I irritate her, but Ven reckons I'd probably get that impression from her for at least six months anyways. Not the easiest person to get to know. Too bad I don't have six months to find out if it's true.
So now I'm back in Tacoma, hanging out with Ven's family while she's at work. Looking forward to the weekend tho, as Ven, quite naturally, is pretty tired when she gets home, so she's not up to much in the way of sightseeing or heading out. We watched Aeon Flux last night tho. The movie, not the cartoon. It wasn't really TOO bad all up. Anyways, hopefully Ven can get a little more rest on the weekend and we can hang out a bit more.
Should be awesome.
Did I mention Ven is cool? It's really different actually talking to her in real time about stuff, but she's a really neat person. In some ways she's a lot smarter than me, and she definitely thinks her way through some things more than I tend to. So the conversation is ALWAYS interesting, at least for me.
So far, this has been a pretty good trip.
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| Tuesday, August 14th, 2007
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2:22 pm - Well, this is it.
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In a little while, I will be setting out for the airport.
Within 4 hours I will be on the plane to Los Angeles. From there, I fly to Seattle. 16 hours altogether.
I hope I have everything.
Seeya when I seeya!
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| Wednesday, June 27th, 2007
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10:37 pm - So...
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I guess it's time to spill the news. Also, it's a good way to get the news to people I don't see much! Like a bunch of birds with one really well-aimed stone.
So, here it is.
I'm taking a trip to America.
That's right, I'm-a comin' to the US of A!
I'll be landing in Seattle on August 14th, and I will (barring any unforseen conflicts. IE, I turn out to be much more aggravating than I thought) be staying with Ven for 2 months and change, and then I'll be hopping across to Rochester for a few days, and I fly out for NZ on November 10th.
So... maybe I'll see or hear from people while I'm states-side? One can hope.
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| Saturday, February 10th, 2007
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11:21 pm - The more things change...
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... the more they stay the same. Right?
Well, not always.
Just now I was watching X2 on TV. You know, the second X-Men movie? (I love their depictions of Nightcrawler and Wolverine, and the short fight with Colossus, if nothing else). And it got me thinking... hey, I wonder how things resolved in the comics I used to collect. It's been a long time, so what happened? Where are particular characters now? For that I turned to my good friend, Wikipedia.
Oh boy.
I understand that comics are a tough business. Intriguing but unpopular directions get canned, artists and writers and such get swapped around like shells being worked by a cheap hustler, and they have to keep doing new stuff to keep the public entertained. So characters and stories and concepts grow and evolve, right?
As more mutants are discovered, Xavier's School becomes a schol for real, practically over-run with mutant students!
The Generation X kids grow up!
Wolverine learns more about his past!
And so on. I can handle that, a logical progression of the character as the story develops. I can even handle some of the huge, sweeping changes, like the sudden reversal from the House of M series, which I understand basically ends with most of Earth's mutant population now powerless. For some, a source of joy! For others, tragedy! I'm betting a decent proportion of the usual cast kept theirs, but anyhoo. For me, that particular change is kind of a throw back to the roots of the X-Men. When it was simpler, it was smaller numbers against a larger world. When mutants were definitely a minority, albeit a very dangerous one. Stories before House of M practically had mutants as a political group of their own (and actually did, in cases like Genosha, the purported mutant homeland). I mean, the growth was great and all, but at some stage, maybe it's all just too big?
Other things don't sit so well with me. The schism between Captain America and Iron Man is a minor one, mostly because I followed X-Men more than Avengers, but still, the Avengers were one of the foundations of the Marvel Universe. One of the rocks, but I guess rocks get overturned eventually.
And then some changes are just bizarre, gruesome, and completely distort the stories I remember into something altogether different.
Speedball. Anyone remember him? Minor character, I guess. I only have two or three comics that feature him, so I won't claim to be an expert. But basically, he struck me as a fun character. He had this kinetic field, and, well, he bounced. And he had this fun outlook, all jokes and laughter. He was basically Spider-Man without webs or Uncle Ben... but now, well, I guess comics have to be edgier now... because Speedball... ok, so he gets in a fight, as they do, that ends in an explosion. As they do. This explosion kills about 600 people. Speedball feels terribly guilty, and while his kinetic field saved him, he thinks it burned out in the process. He joins the Marvel faction that want all superhumans registered and properly authorised, and he gets a new suit of armor from them. At his request, the armor is fitted with about 600 spikes on the inside, so that the pain constantly reminds him of all those people. How he survives the blood loss, I don't know, but apparently his powers haven't burned out, they're just evolving... but now, instead of being triggered by kinetic energy, they're triggered by pain. Gee, good thing he's torturing himself, huh?
They took a fun character and made him shop in a hardcore fetish boutique. Wonderful.
Oh, and Apocalypse has new horsemen, too. Notable members are Sunfire, Polaris and Gambit. Thankfully, all three have rebelled and left, but they have apparently gone through such massively traumatic transformation and redevelopment in the process... I know Archangel was gradually changed back to Angel, but there's no guarantees that it will happen again. So now Gambit, Sunfire and Polaris are darker and grimmer and such. Oh yeah, and prior to that, Sunfire's legs had been cut off in battle. Both of them.
How's that for gritty and edgy?
I shudder to think what else has been done, and refrain from further delving into Wikipedia on the subject.
I guess what I'm sticking on, is while I know that stories must evolve to retain interest... where do we draw the line between 'evolution' and 'complete reversal, reinvention or destruction'?
I guess it's a personal line that we all must draw, whether it's with comics, ongoing novels, tv shows, or even following the lives of celebrities (Britney Spears, for example, could have been written by Marvel. If you could get them to stay away from super powers long enough). All I know is, these changes make it unlikely I'll go back to collecting. Too much has happened, too much has changed. They're not the stories I came to love.
Maybe that's why I like that new 'Heroes' show. It reminds me of an earlier time, of sorts. Small cast, interesting story, unified direction, cool powers and awesome characters and plot twists.
Maybe I'll do my own superhero story thing. Pity I can't draw. Also a pity that plain-text superhero stories often bite.
We'll see.
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