More CA Remembrances
As I sift through all the pictures (and video) I took while I was out there, I thought this one would be the best to show on this site. Because we just couldn’t wait until the wedding and BBQ to hang out with each other, some of the Lizard People went to Japantown for some noodles and bad service. After dinner, we wandered around and had oodles of fun in the Japanese photo booths trying to figure out how to work the machine by deciphering the pictographs. We all agreed that for $5, the entertainment value was really great.
Airline Stories
So the trip to California was so much more than I had hoped it would be. Not only did Shirley get married without a hitch, but I managed to squeeze time to visit my brother as well as seeing the old high school crew (a.k.a. The Lizard People).
The flight out to CA was fairly uneventful. There was a 20-minute stopover in Las Vegas, where those of us who were continuing on to Oakland were allowed to get off the plane, stretch our legs, etc., before it took off again. I took advantage of the opportunity to use a real bathroom and ambled around the terminal a bit. Of course, in Las Vegas, they have slot machines in the airport; why would they not? I briefly thought about trying one out, but then had visions of feverishly feeding quarters into the machine as my plane took off, leaving me stranded, so I just got back on the plane. Two minutes later, a gentleman in my same situation also returned to the plane, crowing about how he just won $200 at the slot machines. Figures.
Even though I was in California specifically for the wedding, I was able to spend a couple days with Mikey, which is, as always, such a pleasure. It’s pretty neat how I’ve gone from seeing him once every two or three years to once every two or three months. Again, let me tell the world how glad I am that he’s going to NYU, and that I’ll see him even more often!
I also was very lucky to be able to see the Bride and Groom a lot more than most of my friends, since I got to sing in the wedding. The three of us had dinner the night after I arrived, and then I saw them every day after that: at the rehearsal, at the wedding, and at the post-wedding BBQ the next day.
I stayed at the house of my best friend from middle school (yes, I keep in touch with many people from my past…I think I may be a rarity that way) who got married several years ago and who now has a two-year-old daughter. I was so busy running around meeting my brother, the Lizard People, and dealing with wedding stuff that it was a good thing I stayed with her…otherwise I wouldn’t have had any time to spend with her, and that would have been a shame.
The trip back to Philadelphia proved itself to be more eventful than the trip there, and not in a good way. It started with a security line at Oakland airport that seemed worse than a line for a ride at Disneyland: the line kept moving, but it went around the baggage area, folded in on itself, went outside and back inside, and the TSA woman at the end of the line announced that it would be a 35-minute wait as I entered the queue. Good thing I got there early. I managed to make it on the plane without much hassle, and I sat on an aisle seat next to a nice woman and her son. Both her son and I were reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, so she struck up a small conversation with me. Unfortunately about ten minutes into the flight, her teenage daughter, who had been sitting across the aisle from us, started getting sick and wanted to sit next to her mom. I’m a nice person…many would say TOO nice…so I traded seats with her.
Too late, I realized why this girl was getting sick. She and her brother had been sitting across the aisle, she in the middle and he at the window, and her brother was the fartiest little ten-year-old boy I think I’ve ever met. Besides the fact that I traded an aisle seat for a middle seat, I also seemed to have inherited the spot next to a kid with more gas than Saudi Arabia. It smelled like a combination of rotting eggs, day-old milk, with a slight hint of diarrhea for a good five and a half hours. Believe me, I was counting the minutes until our plane was scheduled to land…only it didn’t land on schedule.
Yes, due to thunderstorms in the Philly area, the Philadelphia airport CLOSED while my plane was in the air. We circled around for a while until we got low on fuel, so we had to land in Pittsburgh to refuel and wait for a go from the tower in Philly. I was not amused. Not only had I been squashed next to Smelly the Fart Monster, but Southwest doesn’t serve meals like normal airlines; they just serve snacks, so my diet for that day had consisted of a bagel I had eaten before getting on the plane, two Oreos, a bag of peanuts, a breakfast bar, and two Graham crackers. And it was dinner time by now. They did let us get off the plane in Pittsburgh to get something to eat while they refueled, but we ended up waiting around for about an hour and a half before the tower let us get back in the air. 12 hours after I left my friend’s house in San Francisco, I finally made it back home. It’s been quite a day, and with that, I think it’s time for bed.
Filed under Family, Folks I Know (not blogs), Travel | Comment (0)Friendsday
I played hooky today and went to New York to visit friends. I hardly ever get up there anymore, although I’m sure that will change this fall when Mikey goes to NYU. So I said to myself, “Self, I should go up there and visit,” so I did.
My first stop was to Fleur de Sel for a delectable prix fixe lunch with Mighty M. She’s been working hard, coming out with a skin care cosmetics line, which, I have to say honestly, is really good. Check it out at www.juaraskincare.com. I was a little daunted by the price at first, but then I realized that it’s actually pretty much in line with anything else you might get out there from Aveda or Origins or Bath & Body Works. I’ve been an avid Aveda fan for a while, but — and now I know I sound like an infomercial, so I’ll stop in a sec — I think this stuff is better than Aveda. There, I said it. Now I’m done.
After lunch, I had an hour or so to kill before my next appointment to meet Amy. I found myself on the street where Witold lives (stop me before I turn into a musical!), so I called to see if he was home, and lo and behold he was! It was such a fun, spontaneous thing to do, and I’m so glad I got to hang out, because I haven’t seen him in a little over a year. He’s been busy, too, putting up a web site at wyoga.com, teaching, and writing. My only regret is that I didn’t stay longer, but I had to meet up with Amy.
Amy and I were going to go see Revenge of the Sith together (me for the second time), but it turns out we weren’t actually in the mood to see a movie, so we ended up having dinner and chatting. All in all, it was so nice to catch up with everyone. And I think I really needed the restoration of the spirit that comes with hanging with friends.
Filed under Folks I Know (not blogs), New York, Star Wars | Comment (0)Mr. Anderson…
So RS’s brother, PS, was our substitute bass soloist at the church Lent Evensong concert, which was lots of fun. PS was also in Aida with us, and he provided entertainment for a small group of us by letting us co-write a story called “The Academy of MURDER,” which still isn’t finished…hmm…I wonder if I can get my hands on that story…
But I digress. As he was donning his robes for church, he made the remark that the robe made him look like a character in The Matrix. I couldn’t help myself, so I took a picture and played around with it, and voila! It kind of looks like Keanu is saying, “What the…who the hell is this guy?”
Filed under Folks I Know (not blogs) | Comment (0)DC Trip
My trip to DC was so much fun! Even though I got stuck in horrendous traffic on the way down to DC, I arrived hale and hearty and ready to play with Shoiley and Geoff. We went to the Spy Museum on the first day and took a trolley tour the second day. It was really nice to just take a vacation and be a tourist. While I was there, I had lunch with E., and he told me all about his first months at law school.
I also spent the evening with E & J, who both know the Muse and had to hear the whole story of The Gig from me. We had a great time, and I’m sorry I don’t live closer to them, because we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning talking about life and politics and stuff.
So all in all it was a pleasant trip. I think I like DC better now, as a tourist, than I did when I lived there. And I actually liked DC a lot when I lived there, so that says a lot about DC’s tourism department.
Filed under Folks I Know (not blogs), Travel | Comment (0)