i left my heart, the threequel: part iv
the longer you stay in one place, the more you start falling back into old routines, and i think that's my favourite part of extended trips. when you sort of settle down a little and get to stop living out of suitcases and soak in the environment and what it would be like if you lived there for real. at last recount, we were going movie marathoning, but we only made it through world war z - which was AWESOME AND EPIC AND AIODJLSGDG OMG - and man of steel - which was awful and boring and made me want to spork my eyes out at multiple points - before we decided we couldn't sit through a third film and went to have dinner at a late night korean place. it turned out awesome, so yay!
the next day was sunday, which meant my sister took us out to a little place she'd never been to to try some mac and cheese. i got the breakfast mac and cheese, which had bacon and a sunny side up on top, and mmmmmmmmm, IT WAS SO GOOD. i love mac and cheese. i didn't end up finishing it because it was ridiculously filling, but oh man, i could have those leftovers every day. (for a couple of days.) we headed down to the exploratorium after that, and oh my gosh that was SO MUCH FUN even though i didn't expect it to be! all the exhibits were so interactive and so interesting, i just had a blast experimenting with everything. definitely something i want to go back and do again before i leave.
unfortunately, monday was a little less yay than the weekend had been, since we made the expensive trek down from berkeley to san francisco to meet my sister for lunch, and conveniently spent the entire time being ignored in favour of her friend, who also happened to be down in san francisco for the day. the food was just fine, not enough to be a distraction, so that wound up being probably the longest lunch i've had to sit through the entire trip. on the plus side, i finally got to pick up my new passport!
anyway, we were determined not to let that slow us down, and decided to spend more time (re)exploring the berkeley area the next day. we had a gorgeous brunch at la note, which was hopelessly delicious despite the fact that we were outside, seated next to what smelt like compost, and the 45-minute wait we endured (AND IT STARTED TO DRIZZLE WHILE WE WAITED) before we got our food. i'm probably never going to go back again after that, but it was delicious! we had to trek through more rain to get to the police station to file a request for a police report over our car break-in after, which didn't help my mood, but things definitely picked up once we got that done and headed over to target. omg I LOVE TARGET. i wish we could go to target everyday. although we'd probably end up with too much crap to keep in our apartment, judging from our loot from that day alone! (all the chips and soft drinks you could ask for. no lie.) we ended off the day with a trip to my favourite berkeley shabu place, and stuffed our faces with seaweed salad and onion rings and lamb and pork and ALL KINDS OF DELICIOUSNESS, oh my gosh. i'm feeling a little sick just thinking about it. but in the best way possible.
the morning after, we continued our food exploration with the most delicious egg salad i have ever had at venus. it was so good that despite being caught in the rain - AGAIN - before coming in for breakfast, and knowing we would have to walk in the rain some more after breakfast to get to the cinema, i couldn't be mad. we went to see the bling ring - SO BAD, SO, SO BAD - and monsters university - SO, SO GOOD, surprisingly good, especially since i went in thinking i was going to hate it or be bored like i was during the first one! and then went out for korean in the evening again. this was less spectacular than the first korean place was, but i got dumplings that were the size of my palm, haha, so that was interesting. we made a quick stop off at fenton's - and the fact that the ice cream place in up! is a real ice cream place that actually exists will never not be amusing to me - and then headed home for the night.
wednesday was a big day, because it was supposed to be tynislove's departure date, only we turned out to be such amazing company that she couldn't bear to leave, so we all had to up and move from berkeley to our apartment in the financial district is san francisco. before that, though, we had a couple of payment issues come up with the landlord, and spent half a day in my sister's apartment playing clue and jenga while we waited for those issues to be sorted out. when we finally did get to the apartment, however, i didn't know what to think. there was no air conditioning, there was no laundry soap, there weren't even windows in the apartment save the big glass doors leading out to the balcony. the doorman wasn't particularly helpful, and i was just ready to kill someone.
it's really grown on me now, though. i love it here. we spent the next couple of days finding little eateries (like hidden gems, i tell you) around the area, and going out to daiso and target and safeway to get ourselves things to make the apartment more homey (also a fan, because oh my god those first few days were torture, it was so ridiculously hot indoors). we fixed ourselves up a couple of home cooked meals (i say cooked, but i really mean salad and hot chicken from safeway) and just finally got to relax in the knowledge that we wouldn't be moving around like nomads anymore, and i could stop living out of my suitcase. YAY.
my sister finally moved in as well, and we went out for pho and a quick stop at the weekly berkeley food truck thing they do - i forget what it's called, but we had had sisig fries there the week before and it had been so delicious i couldn't resist getting a batch of sisig nachos to try. despite having just had pho, and claiming to be too full to eat anything else. whoops!
while all this was going on, i was struggling to get registered for an online class at northwestern, and they were being so slow about it; i ran into problem after problem after problem, so it was a day of highs and lows. every time i thought i'd cleared the final hurdle, a new one would pop up, and i'd have to go through the whole dance all over again. not the best time of my life, but the next day made up for it. we had breakfast at another berkeley classic, bongo burger. mmmm. their lamb burger is pretty damn good, but the real star is the ranch. oh my gosh i could eat that sauce EVERY DAY. on anything. EVERYTHING. unf. we had to collect the police report, which is why we were in berkeley at all, and we decided to make a few stops on the way at a thrift store (where we left empty-handed) and an adorable little geeky game place (where we left with way more merch than we should've). (i now have a second magic wand that makes swishing noises and emits blue light) (yes i am a child)
the weekend had rolled around again, and my northwestern problem was close to being, but not all the way, solved, so i put that aside and decided to just have fun. it's completely amazing (and shocking) that that's possible here, but office hours are office hours and no one's going to entertain you until monday. if i'd been in singapore, i would've burnt my saturday making calls and getting my shit straightened out, but here, i went instead to see a free circus performance at the ybca gardens - which was fun but not exceptional, except for the insane family of asians who spun their five-year-old daughter in the air with their feet as her birthday present! - and then on a mini roadtrip to monterey bay aquarium! it was awesome, mostly because i love aquariums, and also because the exhibits in this one were arranged in really novel ways. there was also a jazz thing going on, so that was fun!
then we headed down to carmel beach, and it was gorgeous. the sand was awful and rough, though, and hurt our feet, but at least the view was worth it.
we stayed till sunset, and then made our way to a japanese restaurant we'd heard good things about. (as asians, i am not ashamed to say that our first reaction to the sea creatures in aquariums is "SEAFOOD!!!!" or "damn i bet that tastes good.") it was an okay meal, though the uni was pretty awesome, but dessert was a little better, at a hong kong cafe nearby (although that might be the homesickness talking) and i had a good time even with the really crappy service.
the next day was pride (aka one of the biggest reasons tynislove put off going home. it was pretty fun, lots of celebration and people just letting loose and being excited about getting to show their support. it was a really lovely atmosphere, and the hot shirtless boys didn't hurt any, either. (nor did gandalf the grey flasher, who amused us all by shaking his thang as he walked down the road. i love creepy old people.) I ALSO SAW UNIQUE FROM GLEE. that was fun!
the london breed float was obviously the most fun, though!
and the vegan float the most hysterical. oh my gosh, when i saw the indian with his "eat me, go vegan" sign i almost passed out i was laughing so hard. that is the best kind of politically incorrect humour, tyvm.
it was just a really awesome day all round.
and the awesomeness continued the next day, when bart workers decided they were all going to go on strike, and my sister got the day off from work! we headed over to six flags (another reason tynislove extended her stay) and oh my gosh it was ridiculously empty. we got to go on all the rides and see all the shows that we wanted to. i was having a great time right up until we did two roller coasters back to back, and when i got off the second one i was pretty sure i was going to be sick. (i was, but only a tiny bit, and then i slept it off in the car once everyone else had gone on the last roller coaster and we decided to head back home.) i'm definitely getting too old for this shit :/ on the bright side, i got two (TWO!!) new stuffed animals for the price of one because the shopgirl was too lazy to call her manager over to exchange the first stuffed animal that i'd bought for the second one that i'd decided i liked better instead. "i'll have to call my manager over, but i don't wanna do that, so i'm just gonna let you take them both. just take off the tags, okay?" were her exact words. i love lazy people!
JUST LOOK AT THEM THOUGH THEY ARE SO ADORABLE *____________*
we took it easy the next day, and lazed in bed at the apartment till lunch time, when we agreed we'd meet my sister for lunch at the farmer's market near her workplace. we had an oven-cooked pizza each, which was delicious, but pretty much took my sister's entire lunch break to finish cooking, bummer. luckily we had big plans for that night to go zombie shooting at pier 39, so nothing could dampen our mood too much. zombie shooting was a blast. it helped that i was the top shooter after the two dudes in our group (and next time i'm going to be top shooter, period). then we stumbled into an adorable shop called del sol while we were trying to figure out what to have for dinner, and ended up leaving with nail polish and shirts that change colour under the sun. we have since tried them out and they are TOO ADORABLE FOR LIFE. once we got down we decided we'd have bubba gump, and it was a good way to end off the night.
the next day we had plans to go barbequeing at the beach in the evening, so tynislove and i spent the day scouting tattoo parlours (and picking out the one that i am going to today, huzzah!), shopping at victoria's secret (where i got four bras for the price of three because of a cashier error that i did not bother to correct) (whoops) and at h&m and dsw. we spent so long shopping that we barely had twenty minutes to prep for the beach before we were whisked away! unfortunately, because of bad planning on our part, we wound up at a beach with a limited number of fire pits, and once the sun set, we were chased off it because our fire wasn't in a pit. BUT IT DIDN'T MATTER BECAUSE WE WERE PRETTY MUCH DONE EATING ANYWAY, OFFICER, SO SUCK ON THAT. um. we just packed up and headed home to polish off the remaining food, and rest up for our fourth of july adventures the next day!
not that we had that many, because really all we did was head out in the afternoon to get picnic food to eat on top of indian rock, where we planned to watch the fireworks. i don't know what i was expecting, but indian rock is literally just a huge rock that we had to climb up to sit on. it's supposed to be a well-kept secret, but it was pretty crowded that night. we got to see loads of fireworks from all over norcal, as well, we just didn't get to see any of them up close. san francisco's fireworks looked ridiculous! i'm excited to get to see them again when i'm in northwestern.
we wanted to go for some karaoke after the fireworks were over, but when we got to the place, it was full! so we settled for some (delicious, omg) bubble tea there instead, and headed home for the night. which ended up being a good decision because we left at noon the next day for a long drive up to tahoe. we stopped for some AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING chicken and fried okra on the way there, but otherwise it was pretty much four hours of non-stop terrible, sleepy, roadtrip inappropriate music and bumpy driving. i really, really haven't enjoyed our roadtrips - even the mini day ones - can you tell?
we arrived in the late evening, and headed down to the beach once we were settled in. for someone who really doesn't do beaches, i feel like i've spent a lot of time on them on this trip. i love the water, but oh my god, there is NOTHING TO DO ON A BEACH. except get burnt, which is the worst. (and which i spared myself from this time by lathering up on sunscreen pretty much obsessively). for dinner we had japanese, which was supposed to be amazing and which we waited for half an hour for, but it turned out only so-so.
thankfully, we had a rafting trip planned for the next day. we stopped at ihop for breakfast in the morning, which--mmm. and then we set off for rafting at truckee lake. it was supposed to be for "adventurous beginners", but the first hour or so was really boring. the class one and two rapids were just a little too sleepy, and the places we got to go swimming weren't particularly exciting. we didn't get to cliff jump either, and the pictures that were taken were so awful and generic we didn't even bother buying them ($60 for 40 badly taken photos on a cd, what even! i'm so glad i did the rafting in new zealand.) our guide was fine, not particularly chatty or fun, but he did the best he could, and he provided lots of inadvertent entertainment by being the only member of our raft to fall overboard! good times!
we capped off our day with pizza from dominoes (delicious, delicious pizza), which we also had the next morning for breakfast. yay for leftovers! we were going to go parasailing, but we needed to head back to sf by noon, and the slots were all booked up till at least one, so that's something we'll have to save for next time. as it is, we left at 10, and took 5 hours to drive over to emeryville, where we did a spot of shopping and had some lunch. then it was off to karaoke! probably one of my favourite nights we've had this entire trip. i'm so homesick that getting to belt out stupid chinese songs felt INCREDIBLE, and trying to keep up with the ridiculous raps in things like love the way you lie was awesome fun!
the next day was tynislove's for real departure date. we scrambled around getting all her things together in the morning (and STILL managed to miss her leather jacket, good stuff) before taking the bart down to the airport. it's only been a day since then, but it's already weird not having a constant horny weirdo presence shadowing me 24/7.
i could especially have used that presence today, when i spent all morning running around buying a scrumptious lunch for my sister from a nearby cafeteria, only to have her change our meeting time on me, making me head back to the apartment first, and then changing it again so i had to rush off to meet her at her office. that presence would also have been helpful at my first ever tattoo session this afternoon!!
i wasn't that nervous going in -- or at least, i'd convinced myself that i wasn't that nervous, and i honestly didn't think the pain would be anything i couldn't handle. it started off well enough: the sketch was gorgeous and better than what i'd imagined in my head and chris was ready to go as soon as i got there - no unprofessional three hours late bullshit. he's amazing. he's fast and so professional and i wasn't worried at all when i lay down in his chair. we started out with the outline, which was so easy i almost fell asleep, and the one and a half hours he needed to finish flew by.
but then came the shading, which hurt quite a bit more than i thought it would, but was easy enough to relax into after a couple of minutes. what they don't tell you is that the worst bit is when they have to wipe your tattoo off, or take a break, because when you start fresh it hurts like it's the first time all over again. but i was surviving it. i was in fact, according to chris, being "fucking rad". then came the white highlights.
holy christ. i don't know if it was my lowered pain tolerance having sat in that chair for over three hours, or if it was just that white highlights hurt, but it felt like someone was taking a penknife and slicing through my thigh. so not fun. i swear i thought i was actually going to kick him a couple of times, especially when he started wiping my tattoo. youch. who are the people who get addicted to this again?
ANYWAY. it turned out fucking awesome, so i'm not complaining.
i can't wait for the redness to go down so i can see the actual black/grey shading. i can't wait for my next (and final!!!!!!!) session either; it's going to be so awesome to finish the holster/garter and put the finishing touches on everything!
in the meantime, the rest of this week is going to be devoted to healing, staying indoors, getting some studying done, and thinking of ways to break this to my parents!
the next day was sunday, which meant my sister took us out to a little place she'd never been to to try some mac and cheese. i got the breakfast mac and cheese, which had bacon and a sunny side up on top, and mmmmmmmmm, IT WAS SO GOOD. i love mac and cheese. i didn't end up finishing it because it was ridiculously filling, but oh man, i could have those leftovers every day. (for a couple of days.) we headed down to the exploratorium after that, and oh my gosh that was SO MUCH FUN even though i didn't expect it to be! all the exhibits were so interactive and so interesting, i just had a blast experimenting with everything. definitely something i want to go back and do again before i leave.
unfortunately, monday was a little less yay than the weekend had been, since we made the expensive trek down from berkeley to san francisco to meet my sister for lunch, and conveniently spent the entire time being ignored in favour of her friend, who also happened to be down in san francisco for the day. the food was just fine, not enough to be a distraction, so that wound up being probably the longest lunch i've had to sit through the entire trip. on the plus side, i finally got to pick up my new passport!
anyway, we were determined not to let that slow us down, and decided to spend more time (re)exploring the berkeley area the next day. we had a gorgeous brunch at la note, which was hopelessly delicious despite the fact that we were outside, seated next to what smelt like compost, and the 45-minute wait we endured (AND IT STARTED TO DRIZZLE WHILE WE WAITED) before we got our food. i'm probably never going to go back again after that, but it was delicious! we had to trek through more rain to get to the police station to file a request for a police report over our car break-in after, which didn't help my mood, but things definitely picked up once we got that done and headed over to target. omg I LOVE TARGET. i wish we could go to target everyday. although we'd probably end up with too much crap to keep in our apartment, judging from our loot from that day alone! (all the chips and soft drinks you could ask for. no lie.) we ended off the day with a trip to my favourite berkeley shabu place, and stuffed our faces with seaweed salad and onion rings and lamb and pork and ALL KINDS OF DELICIOUSNESS, oh my gosh. i'm feeling a little sick just thinking about it. but in the best way possible.
the morning after, we continued our food exploration with the most delicious egg salad i have ever had at venus. it was so good that despite being caught in the rain - AGAIN - before coming in for breakfast, and knowing we would have to walk in the rain some more after breakfast to get to the cinema, i couldn't be mad. we went to see the bling ring - SO BAD, SO, SO BAD - and monsters university - SO, SO GOOD, surprisingly good, especially since i went in thinking i was going to hate it or be bored like i was during the first one! and then went out for korean in the evening again. this was less spectacular than the first korean place was, but i got dumplings that were the size of my palm, haha, so that was interesting. we made a quick stop off at fenton's - and the fact that the ice cream place in up! is a real ice cream place that actually exists will never not be amusing to me - and then headed home for the night.
wednesday was a big day, because it was supposed to be tynislove's departure date, only we turned out to be such amazing company that she couldn't bear to leave, so we all had to up and move from berkeley to our apartment in the financial district is san francisco. before that, though, we had a couple of payment issues come up with the landlord, and spent half a day in my sister's apartment playing clue and jenga while we waited for those issues to be sorted out. when we finally did get to the apartment, however, i didn't know what to think. there was no air conditioning, there was no laundry soap, there weren't even windows in the apartment save the big glass doors leading out to the balcony. the doorman wasn't particularly helpful, and i was just ready to kill someone.
it's really grown on me now, though. i love it here. we spent the next couple of days finding little eateries (like hidden gems, i tell you) around the area, and going out to daiso and target and safeway to get ourselves things to make the apartment more homey (also a fan, because oh my god those first few days were torture, it was so ridiculously hot indoors). we fixed ourselves up a couple of home cooked meals (i say cooked, but i really mean salad and hot chicken from safeway) and just finally got to relax in the knowledge that we wouldn't be moving around like nomads anymore, and i could stop living out of my suitcase. YAY.
my sister finally moved in as well, and we went out for pho and a quick stop at the weekly berkeley food truck thing they do - i forget what it's called, but we had had sisig fries there the week before and it had been so delicious i couldn't resist getting a batch of sisig nachos to try. despite having just had pho, and claiming to be too full to eat anything else. whoops!
while all this was going on, i was struggling to get registered for an online class at northwestern, and they were being so slow about it; i ran into problem after problem after problem, so it was a day of highs and lows. every time i thought i'd cleared the final hurdle, a new one would pop up, and i'd have to go through the whole dance all over again. not the best time of my life, but the next day made up for it. we had breakfast at another berkeley classic, bongo burger. mmmm. their lamb burger is pretty damn good, but the real star is the ranch. oh my gosh i could eat that sauce EVERY DAY. on anything. EVERYTHING. unf. we had to collect the police report, which is why we were in berkeley at all, and we decided to make a few stops on the way at a thrift store (where we left empty-handed) and an adorable little geeky game place (where we left with way more merch than we should've). (i now have a second magic wand that makes swishing noises and emits blue light) (yes i am a child)
the weekend had rolled around again, and my northwestern problem was close to being, but not all the way, solved, so i put that aside and decided to just have fun. it's completely amazing (and shocking) that that's possible here, but office hours are office hours and no one's going to entertain you until monday. if i'd been in singapore, i would've burnt my saturday making calls and getting my shit straightened out, but here, i went instead to see a free circus performance at the ybca gardens - which was fun but not exceptional, except for the insane family of asians who spun their five-year-old daughter in the air with their feet as her birthday present! - and then on a mini roadtrip to monterey bay aquarium! it was awesome, mostly because i love aquariums, and also because the exhibits in this one were arranged in really novel ways. there was also a jazz thing going on, so that was fun!
then we headed down to carmel beach, and it was gorgeous. the sand was awful and rough, though, and hurt our feet, but at least the view was worth it.
we stayed till sunset, and then made our way to a japanese restaurant we'd heard good things about. (as asians, i am not ashamed to say that our first reaction to the sea creatures in aquariums is "SEAFOOD!!!!" or "damn i bet that tastes good.") it was an okay meal, though the uni was pretty awesome, but dessert was a little better, at a hong kong cafe nearby (although that might be the homesickness talking) and i had a good time even with the really crappy service.
the next day was pride (aka one of the biggest reasons tynislove put off going home. it was pretty fun, lots of celebration and people just letting loose and being excited about getting to show their support. it was a really lovely atmosphere, and the hot shirtless boys didn't hurt any, either. (nor did gandalf the grey flasher, who amused us all by shaking his thang as he walked down the road. i love creepy old people.) I ALSO SAW UNIQUE FROM GLEE. that was fun!
the london breed float was obviously the most fun, though!
and the vegan float the most hysterical. oh my gosh, when i saw the indian with his "eat me, go vegan" sign i almost passed out i was laughing so hard. that is the best kind of politically incorrect humour, tyvm.
it was just a really awesome day all round.
and the awesomeness continued the next day, when bart workers decided they were all going to go on strike, and my sister got the day off from work! we headed over to six flags (another reason tynislove extended her stay) and oh my gosh it was ridiculously empty. we got to go on all the rides and see all the shows that we wanted to. i was having a great time right up until we did two roller coasters back to back, and when i got off the second one i was pretty sure i was going to be sick. (i was, but only a tiny bit, and then i slept it off in the car once everyone else had gone on the last roller coaster and we decided to head back home.) i'm definitely getting too old for this shit :/ on the bright side, i got two (TWO!!) new stuffed animals for the price of one because the shopgirl was too lazy to call her manager over to exchange the first stuffed animal that i'd bought for the second one that i'd decided i liked better instead. "i'll have to call my manager over, but i don't wanna do that, so i'm just gonna let you take them both. just take off the tags, okay?" were her exact words. i love lazy people!
JUST LOOK AT THEM THOUGH THEY ARE SO ADORABLE *____________*
we took it easy the next day, and lazed in bed at the apartment till lunch time, when we agreed we'd meet my sister for lunch at the farmer's market near her workplace. we had an oven-cooked pizza each, which was delicious, but pretty much took my sister's entire lunch break to finish cooking, bummer. luckily we had big plans for that night to go zombie shooting at pier 39, so nothing could dampen our mood too much. zombie shooting was a blast. it helped that i was the top shooter after the two dudes in our group (and next time i'm going to be top shooter, period). then we stumbled into an adorable shop called del sol while we were trying to figure out what to have for dinner, and ended up leaving with nail polish and shirts that change colour under the sun. we have since tried them out and they are TOO ADORABLE FOR LIFE. once we got down we decided we'd have bubba gump, and it was a good way to end off the night.
the next day we had plans to go barbequeing at the beach in the evening, so tynislove and i spent the day scouting tattoo parlours (and picking out the one that i am going to today, huzzah!), shopping at victoria's secret (where i got four bras for the price of three because of a cashier error that i did not bother to correct) (whoops) and at h&m and dsw. we spent so long shopping that we barely had twenty minutes to prep for the beach before we were whisked away! unfortunately, because of bad planning on our part, we wound up at a beach with a limited number of fire pits, and once the sun set, we were chased off it because our fire wasn't in a pit. BUT IT DIDN'T MATTER BECAUSE WE WERE PRETTY MUCH DONE EATING ANYWAY, OFFICER, SO SUCK ON THAT. um. we just packed up and headed home to polish off the remaining food, and rest up for our fourth of july adventures the next day!
not that we had that many, because really all we did was head out in the afternoon to get picnic food to eat on top of indian rock, where we planned to watch the fireworks. i don't know what i was expecting, but indian rock is literally just a huge rock that we had to climb up to sit on. it's supposed to be a well-kept secret, but it was pretty crowded that night. we got to see loads of fireworks from all over norcal, as well, we just didn't get to see any of them up close. san francisco's fireworks looked ridiculous! i'm excited to get to see them again when i'm in northwestern.
we wanted to go for some karaoke after the fireworks were over, but when we got to the place, it was full! so we settled for some (delicious, omg) bubble tea there instead, and headed home for the night. which ended up being a good decision because we left at noon the next day for a long drive up to tahoe. we stopped for some AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING chicken and fried okra on the way there, but otherwise it was pretty much four hours of non-stop terrible, sleepy, roadtrip inappropriate music and bumpy driving. i really, really haven't enjoyed our roadtrips - even the mini day ones - can you tell?
we arrived in the late evening, and headed down to the beach once we were settled in. for someone who really doesn't do beaches, i feel like i've spent a lot of time on them on this trip. i love the water, but oh my god, there is NOTHING TO DO ON A BEACH. except get burnt, which is the worst. (and which i spared myself from this time by lathering up on sunscreen pretty much obsessively). for dinner we had japanese, which was supposed to be amazing and which we waited for half an hour for, but it turned out only so-so.
thankfully, we had a rafting trip planned for the next day. we stopped at ihop for breakfast in the morning, which--mmm. and then we set off for rafting at truckee lake. it was supposed to be for "adventurous beginners", but the first hour or so was really boring. the class one and two rapids were just a little too sleepy, and the places we got to go swimming weren't particularly exciting. we didn't get to cliff jump either, and the pictures that were taken were so awful and generic we didn't even bother buying them ($60 for 40 badly taken photos on a cd, what even! i'm so glad i did the rafting in new zealand.) our guide was fine, not particularly chatty or fun, but he did the best he could, and he provided lots of inadvertent entertainment by being the only member of our raft to fall overboard! good times!
we capped off our day with pizza from dominoes (delicious, delicious pizza), which we also had the next morning for breakfast. yay for leftovers! we were going to go parasailing, but we needed to head back to sf by noon, and the slots were all booked up till at least one, so that's something we'll have to save for next time. as it is, we left at 10, and took 5 hours to drive over to emeryville, where we did a spot of shopping and had some lunch. then it was off to karaoke! probably one of my favourite nights we've had this entire trip. i'm so homesick that getting to belt out stupid chinese songs felt INCREDIBLE, and trying to keep up with the ridiculous raps in things like love the way you lie was awesome fun!
the next day was tynislove's for real departure date. we scrambled around getting all her things together in the morning (and STILL managed to miss her leather jacket, good stuff) before taking the bart down to the airport. it's only been a day since then, but it's already weird not having a constant horny weirdo presence shadowing me 24/7.
i could especially have used that presence today, when i spent all morning running around buying a scrumptious lunch for my sister from a nearby cafeteria, only to have her change our meeting time on me, making me head back to the apartment first, and then changing it again so i had to rush off to meet her at her office. that presence would also have been helpful at my first ever tattoo session this afternoon!!
i wasn't that nervous going in -- or at least, i'd convinced myself that i wasn't that nervous, and i honestly didn't think the pain would be anything i couldn't handle. it started off well enough: the sketch was gorgeous and better than what i'd imagined in my head and chris was ready to go as soon as i got there - no unprofessional three hours late bullshit. he's amazing. he's fast and so professional and i wasn't worried at all when i lay down in his chair. we started out with the outline, which was so easy i almost fell asleep, and the one and a half hours he needed to finish flew by.
but then came the shading, which hurt quite a bit more than i thought it would, but was easy enough to relax into after a couple of minutes. what they don't tell you is that the worst bit is when they have to wipe your tattoo off, or take a break, because when you start fresh it hurts like it's the first time all over again. but i was surviving it. i was in fact, according to chris, being "fucking rad". then came the white highlights.
holy christ. i don't know if it was my lowered pain tolerance having sat in that chair for over three hours, or if it was just that white highlights hurt, but it felt like someone was taking a penknife and slicing through my thigh. so not fun. i swear i thought i was actually going to kick him a couple of times, especially when he started wiping my tattoo. youch. who are the people who get addicted to this again?
ANYWAY. it turned out fucking awesome, so i'm not complaining.
i can't wait for the redness to go down so i can see the actual black/grey shading. i can't wait for my next (and final!!!!!!!) session either; it's going to be so awesome to finish the holster/garter and put the finishing touches on everything!
in the meantime, the rest of this week is going to be devoted to healing, staying indoors, getting some studying done, and thinking of ways to break this to my parents!