Summer Begins
Part the First: How I Spent My Memorial Day Weekend
Amara was graduating from Junior College, and I decided I would go. I wasn't entirely sure I would make it until a few days in advance, for various reasons including my being very sick the previous week. Because of that and a few other uncertainties, I wound up not actually telling Amara that I would be there until I was actually there. I decided to play it as a surprise visit.
To get there on Saturday I drove to Santa Cruz on Friday, and did the rest on Saturday morning. I spent the day with Amara and her family, who are all even nicer than I remember, and then I returned to Santa Cruz that night. Amara's mom asked if I'd like to spend the night there, but I decided I'd like to get the drive out of the way and have Sunday as a day of rest before the drive back to Pomona on Monday.
I forgot to bring my camera with me that weekend, which was obviously a major oversight. I wish I had pictures to share with you, but you'll have to make do with my brief descriptions.
We paid a visit to California Carnivores, where I bought a Venus flytrap. (So far I've kept it alive, too!) Then there was the proper graduation party. There were lots of people, as is appropriate, and I knew or had at least met lots of them, which was nice. We had a great dinner, and I would have loved to stay, but I wanted to get my drive over with before it got very late. On Amara's recommendation, I picked up cupcakes from Sift on the way. They were extremely good.
On Sunday my intention had been to relax and spend time with my parents. I wound up seeing way more people than would be expected for being in Santa Cruz for one day. My parents had to drop things off with some people, so I got to spend brief moments with various family friends. One friend from high school was leaving town in a few days, not to return until after summer. She and some other friends from that group and I spent a few hours together, because it was the only time all of us would be in the same place for the near future.
I didn't really expect to see any of my friends in Santa Cruz, but I guess I've got to expect the unexpected.
Part the Second: Ending the School Year
Finals were... you know, finals. Nothing particularly unusual or interesting about them. I didn't really have any big projects in any of my classes, although there was a scare when I realized about an hour before one final that I was meant to hand in homework when I got there. I just had to gather it together at that point, but I came close to not having it with me at all. Oh, also, when you have a 9:10 final, it's best to keep it in your mind as 9:10, or maybe 9:00, but not 9:15. That makes the difference between sitting down and having a couple of minutes to get out your pencil and prepare yourself, and not having any time to sit and relax because everyone's already taking the final because you're late.
Moving out was difficult, because I had a final on Friday morning. The deadline to move out is Friday at 5 PM, so I didn't have time to finish my finals and then focus on moving out. And there were times on Friday when I looked at my room and thought "There's no way I'll ever get out of here!" But in the end I did. Not by 5, but before the night was out.
While moving out, I found my Slytherin tie, which I hadn't been able to find because it was at the bottom of a canvas bag... almost as if I never unpacked it when I moved in, and then ignored the bag for the entire year. I'm glad it didn't disappear entirely. In fact, I'm going to wear it today.
Part the Third: Finn's Birthday Party
My nephew turned four while I was in the middle of finals week. His party was that Saturday, at the California Science Center in Exhibition Park. It's a cool place with lots of great museums, and I should really go there sometime when I have energy to walk around and enjoy everything. I was far more tired than I'd realized, and once I sat down at a picnic table, I didn't actually go back into any museums because it just seemed like too much of an exertion. Bear in mind: I had just moved out the previous day.
Finn's donor sisters came to the party, as well as other family members and friends. I mention the donor sisters because I haven't seen them and their moms nearly as often as the other people who were there, and they're great people who I'd like to see more often.
I was in a run of not taking pictures of important events, but other people there had cameras, so I'll provide you with this from Mike:
My present to Finn was a game called Hisss, where there are cards with snake segments on them and you have to build snakes out of them. I'm hoping Finn will enjoy it. So far he hasn't actually played the game to my knowledge; he has just used the cards to build snakes according to how he wants to do it (or just replicated the snakes shown on the box). I think he'll be ready to enjoy playing a game with rules pretty soon, though.
Intermission: From Thousand Oaks to Santa Cruz
I spent quite a bit of my time in Thousand Oaks playing LA Noir, and discovering that it's quite an amazing game. There are some things about it that have really impressed me, like things that seem inconsequential but later become an important element of the plot in a way that makes the game mechanics an important part of the story, where in most games they would have nothing to do with the story whatsoever.
Anyway, I spent a few days in Thousand Oaks before taking off for the great white north. But I stopped at Santa Cruz.
I've been there for about a week now. I haven't seen nearly as many people during that week as I saw during my one day back in May. I haven't really announced my presence yet, but then I didn't announce my presence then either. So to all who might care: I am officially in Santa Cruz for the next... period of time, and am available to reconnect with people.
Part the Fourth: Jonathan Coulton
I am writing this from a hotel in San Francisco, just a few blocks away from where I saw a Jonathan Coulton concert last night. (This is as far as I have gotten in my journey to the great white north.) I went to the concert with my parents, though I am an adult and fully capable of buying a ticket and driving myself to San Francisco. But back in March, my mom kept asking me what I wanted for my birthday, and I kept saying "I don't know!" and then Jonathan Coulton tickets went on sale and I said "That's what I want" so this concert and the trip to San Francisco is my birthday present.
My love for Jonathan Coulton is well documented. He is my favorite musician, and this was my third time seeing him live. It was a great concert and I got to meet some other fans and feel jealous that many of them had been on the cruise. And it turns out Anna was there! I'd meant to let her know that I was back up north, and I didn't, but then she found me here. We didn't really get a chance to talk, but hopefully we can get together sometime soon. Actually, she reads my LJ so I should just address her: Anna, we should get together sometime soon.
I wish the concert had been longer, but it was amazing and I was glad to hear "Nemeses" performed by Jonathan Coulton and John Roderick (who was the opening act, and who sings "Nemeses" on the album).
Jonathan Coulton's assistant, Scarface, now has the task of singing "Skullcrusher Mountain," and it seems that for every concert on the tour, someone has tweeted a picture of Scarface singing "Skullcrusher Mountain." To keep with tradition, I made sure to get a picture of him during the song and tweet it. (I actually had my camera with me, and with charged batteries, for once.) At first I was so concerned with taking the picture that I forgot to sing along. But once I got the picture I joined in the singing.
I haven't uploaded my other pictures of the concert yet, because I've got a backlog of about 5 months worth of pictures (minus the time that I never had my camera on me) that I need to get online. To tide you over until then, here is Scarface.
Amara was graduating from Junior College, and I decided I would go. I wasn't entirely sure I would make it until a few days in advance, for various reasons including my being very sick the previous week. Because of that and a few other uncertainties, I wound up not actually telling Amara that I would be there until I was actually there. I decided to play it as a surprise visit.
To get there on Saturday I drove to Santa Cruz on Friday, and did the rest on Saturday morning. I spent the day with Amara and her family, who are all even nicer than I remember, and then I returned to Santa Cruz that night. Amara's mom asked if I'd like to spend the night there, but I decided I'd like to get the drive out of the way and have Sunday as a day of rest before the drive back to Pomona on Monday.
I forgot to bring my camera with me that weekend, which was obviously a major oversight. I wish I had pictures to share with you, but you'll have to make do with my brief descriptions.
We paid a visit to California Carnivores, where I bought a Venus flytrap. (So far I've kept it alive, too!) Then there was the proper graduation party. There were lots of people, as is appropriate, and I knew or had at least met lots of them, which was nice. We had a great dinner, and I would have loved to stay, but I wanted to get my drive over with before it got very late. On Amara's recommendation, I picked up cupcakes from Sift on the way. They were extremely good.
On Sunday my intention had been to relax and spend time with my parents. I wound up seeing way more people than would be expected for being in Santa Cruz for one day. My parents had to drop things off with some people, so I got to spend brief moments with various family friends. One friend from high school was leaving town in a few days, not to return until after summer. She and some other friends from that group and I spent a few hours together, because it was the only time all of us would be in the same place for the near future.
I didn't really expect to see any of my friends in Santa Cruz, but I guess I've got to expect the unexpected.
Part the Second: Ending the School Year
Finals were... you know, finals. Nothing particularly unusual or interesting about them. I didn't really have any big projects in any of my classes, although there was a scare when I realized about an hour before one final that I was meant to hand in homework when I got there. I just had to gather it together at that point, but I came close to not having it with me at all. Oh, also, when you have a 9:10 final, it's best to keep it in your mind as 9:10, or maybe 9:00, but not 9:15. That makes the difference between sitting down and having a couple of minutes to get out your pencil and prepare yourself, and not having any time to sit and relax because everyone's already taking the final because you're late.
Moving out was difficult, because I had a final on Friday morning. The deadline to move out is Friday at 5 PM, so I didn't have time to finish my finals and then focus on moving out. And there were times on Friday when I looked at my room and thought "There's no way I'll ever get out of here!" But in the end I did. Not by 5, but before the night was out.
While moving out, I found my Slytherin tie, which I hadn't been able to find because it was at the bottom of a canvas bag... almost as if I never unpacked it when I moved in, and then ignored the bag for the entire year. I'm glad it didn't disappear entirely. In fact, I'm going to wear it today.
Part the Third: Finn's Birthday Party
My nephew turned four while I was in the middle of finals week. His party was that Saturday, at the California Science Center in Exhibition Park. It's a cool place with lots of great museums, and I should really go there sometime when I have energy to walk around and enjoy everything. I was far more tired than I'd realized, and once I sat down at a picnic table, I didn't actually go back into any museums because it just seemed like too much of an exertion. Bear in mind: I had just moved out the previous day.
Finn's donor sisters came to the party, as well as other family members and friends. I mention the donor sisters because I haven't seen them and their moms nearly as often as the other people who were there, and they're great people who I'd like to see more often.
I was in a run of not taking pictures of important events, but other people there had cameras, so I'll provide you with this from Mike:
My present to Finn was a game called Hisss, where there are cards with snake segments on them and you have to build snakes out of them. I'm hoping Finn will enjoy it. So far he hasn't actually played the game to my knowledge; he has just used the cards to build snakes according to how he wants to do it (or just replicated the snakes shown on the box). I think he'll be ready to enjoy playing a game with rules pretty soon, though.
Intermission: From Thousand Oaks to Santa Cruz
I spent quite a bit of my time in Thousand Oaks playing LA Noir, and discovering that it's quite an amazing game. There are some things about it that have really impressed me, like things that seem inconsequential but later become an important element of the plot in a way that makes the game mechanics an important part of the story, where in most games they would have nothing to do with the story whatsoever.
Anyway, I spent a few days in Thousand Oaks before taking off for the great white north. But I stopped at Santa Cruz.
I've been there for about a week now. I haven't seen nearly as many people during that week as I saw during my one day back in May. I haven't really announced my presence yet, but then I didn't announce my presence then either. So to all who might care: I am officially in Santa Cruz for the next... period of time, and am available to reconnect with people.
Part the Fourth: Jonathan Coulton
I am writing this from a hotel in San Francisco, just a few blocks away from where I saw a Jonathan Coulton concert last night. (This is as far as I have gotten in my journey to the great white north.) I went to the concert with my parents, though I am an adult and fully capable of buying a ticket and driving myself to San Francisco. But back in March, my mom kept asking me what I wanted for my birthday, and I kept saying "I don't know!" and then Jonathan Coulton tickets went on sale and I said "That's what I want" so this concert and the trip to San Francisco is my birthday present.
My love for Jonathan Coulton is well documented. He is my favorite musician, and this was my third time seeing him live. It was a great concert and I got to meet some other fans and feel jealous that many of them had been on the cruise. And it turns out Anna was there! I'd meant to let her know that I was back up north, and I didn't, but then she found me here. We didn't really get a chance to talk, but hopefully we can get together sometime soon. Actually, she reads my LJ so I should just address her: Anna, we should get together sometime soon.
I wish the concert had been longer, but it was amazing and I was glad to hear "Nemeses" performed by Jonathan Coulton and John Roderick (who was the opening act, and who sings "Nemeses" on the album).
Jonathan Coulton's assistant, Scarface, now has the task of singing "Skullcrusher Mountain," and it seems that for every concert on the tour, someone has tweeted a picture of Scarface singing "Skullcrusher Mountain." To keep with tradition, I made sure to get a picture of him during the song and tweet it. (I actually had my camera with me, and with charged batteries, for once.) At first I was so concerned with taking the picture that I forgot to sing along. But once I got the picture I joined in the singing.
I haven't uploaded my other pictures of the concert yet, because I've got a backlog of about 5 months worth of pictures (minus the time that I never had my camera on me) that I need to get online. To tide you over until then, here is Scarface.