Yay, California Adventure!
I went to Oakland over the weekend and had a fabulous time doing all the sorts of things I don't normally do because I have No Life.
- I got to actually leave the damn state.
- I got to wear springy clothing in warm, sunny weather.
- I got to have an adventure by myself.*
- I got to spend time with a friend. Yay, friendship!
- I got to eat pizza. (Seriously, I never do this anymore.)
- I got to see brand new episodes of TV shows which are currently on the air.
- I got to play fun games, and occasionally even win.
- I got to watch and mock a not-great movie. (Dredd. It's ... yeah, I'll just avoid the obvious pun here.)
- I got to go out to dinner and a movie with an attractive man, which is always pleasant, even when it's not really a date.
- I got to see a movie in the theatre! First time in over two years. (Life of Pi is a very pretty movie. I recommend it.)
- I got to eat Earl Grey ice cream, which is just as good as it sounds.
- I got to go to a piratey store, and a store full of boneses.
- I got a bunch of mops dumped on my head, because spectralbovine is evil.
- I got to spend lots of time in book stores.
- I got to go to a reading by Seanan McGuire.**
- I got to see the delightful Mark of Mark Reads and Mark Watches again.***
- I got to go to what I think was the fourth stage production of As You Like It that I have ever seen (not counting the dramatic reading I participated in with my fellow homeschoolers in 1994). ****
- I got to watch Neverwhere again with someone who had never seen it before.
- I got to go to an Oscar party, and managed to predict 13 of the 24 winners. And drink a mango margarita.
So, yay! Super fun trip. May have to see about doing that again sometime.
* I ended up walking from the SF airport car rental to the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, which turned out to be about two and a half miles. I did this based on the vague pointing of someone at the airport whom I asked for directions and my own recollections of a map I had looked at briefly about a week before. I knew it wasn't far, and I knew vaguely in which direction I needed to go, and I trusted myself. I didn't have to backtrack a single step.
The weather was lovely, but by the time I reached the cemetery, my feet were getting a bit tired. It was the most I had walked in weeks. The cemetery itself was huge, and it was a military burial ground, which meant all the stones looked the same, stretching in all directions, with no map to guide visitors. But I knew I was looking for Section W, so I guessed a direction, hoped it was the right one, and started walking. There was only one entry gate to the cemetery, and I ended up having to walk a long way back the way I had come, to the very end of the grounds, before I found Section W, but the graves were all neatly numbered, and once I knew I was in the right place, it didn't take me long to find the one I was looking for.
Roena VanHorn was the younger sister of my great-grandfather. She was a beautiful lady who loved fashion and making her own clothes. She married a younger man and moved from the ranch in Montana, where she was raised, to San Francisco. She never had any children. I do wonder if maybe I was the first person to visit her grave in the half a century since she died.
Roena VanHorn, c. 1912
** I had never read any of Seanan's books before, and I thought it was only polite to have read something by the time I got there, so on the plane, I started reading Feed, the first book in the Newsflesh trilogy. I was about 1/4 of the way through it by the time I got to the reading, and I'm a little over halfway done with it now. It is very good. Those of you who are into zombies and/or political intrigue should check it out.
*** Mark is one of my favourite internet celebrities, and I got to meet and hang out with him once before, last May, when he visited Seattle. I can't say enough good things about this man, nor can I express how gratifying it was when he saw me at the reading, and did the most beautiful triple take, because he didn't know I was going to be there. So I got a Mark hugs, and then I had the distinct pleasure of watching him flail over the second half of tammypierce's Immortals quartet, which he has almost finished reading, but the reviews have not yet been posted to his site.
**** It was a modern adaptation with several of the characters' genders swapped, including Celia's, but it definitely worked and was very enjoyable, even if spectralbovine did not believe me about the lion.
- I got to actually leave the damn state.
- I got to wear springy clothing in warm, sunny weather.
- I got to have an adventure by myself.*
- I got to spend time with a friend. Yay, friendship!
- I got to eat pizza. (Seriously, I never do this anymore.)
- I got to see brand new episodes of TV shows which are currently on the air.
- I got to play fun games, and occasionally even win.
- I got to watch and mock a not-great movie. (Dredd. It's ... yeah, I'll just avoid the obvious pun here.)
- I got to go out to dinner and a movie with an attractive man, which is always pleasant, even when it's not really a date.
- I got to see a movie in the theatre! First time in over two years. (Life of Pi is a very pretty movie. I recommend it.)
- I got to eat Earl Grey ice cream, which is just as good as it sounds.
- I got to go to a piratey store, and a store full of boneses.
- I got a bunch of mops dumped on my head, because spectralbovine is evil.
- I got to spend lots of time in book stores.
- I got to go to a reading by Seanan McGuire.**
- I got to see the delightful Mark of Mark Reads and Mark Watches again.***
- I got to go to what I think was the fourth stage production of As You Like It that I have ever seen (not counting the dramatic reading I participated in with my fellow homeschoolers in 1994). ****
- I got to watch Neverwhere again with someone who had never seen it before.
- I got to go to an Oscar party, and managed to predict 13 of the 24 winners. And drink a mango margarita.
So, yay! Super fun trip. May have to see about doing that again sometime.
* I ended up walking from the SF airport car rental to the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, which turned out to be about two and a half miles. I did this based on the vague pointing of someone at the airport whom I asked for directions and my own recollections of a map I had looked at briefly about a week before. I knew it wasn't far, and I knew vaguely in which direction I needed to go, and I trusted myself. I didn't have to backtrack a single step.
The weather was lovely, but by the time I reached the cemetery, my feet were getting a bit tired. It was the most I had walked in weeks. The cemetery itself was huge, and it was a military burial ground, which meant all the stones looked the same, stretching in all directions, with no map to guide visitors. But I knew I was looking for Section W, so I guessed a direction, hoped it was the right one, and started walking. There was only one entry gate to the cemetery, and I ended up having to walk a long way back the way I had come, to the very end of the grounds, before I found Section W, but the graves were all neatly numbered, and once I knew I was in the right place, it didn't take me long to find the one I was looking for.
Roena VanHorn was the younger sister of my great-grandfather. She was a beautiful lady who loved fashion and making her own clothes. She married a younger man and moved from the ranch in Montana, where she was raised, to San Francisco. She never had any children. I do wonder if maybe I was the first person to visit her grave in the half a century since she died.
Roena VanHorn, c. 1912
** I had never read any of Seanan's books before, and I thought it was only polite to have read something by the time I got there, so on the plane, I started reading Feed, the first book in the Newsflesh trilogy. I was about 1/4 of the way through it by the time I got to the reading, and I'm a little over halfway done with it now. It is very good. Those of you who are into zombies and/or political intrigue should check it out.
*** Mark is one of my favourite internet celebrities, and I got to meet and hang out with him once before, last May, when he visited Seattle. I can't say enough good things about this man, nor can I express how gratifying it was when he saw me at the reading, and did the most beautiful triple take, because he didn't know I was going to be there. So I got a Mark hugs, and then I had the distinct pleasure of watching him flail over the second half of tammypierce's Immortals quartet, which he has almost finished reading, but the reviews have not yet been posted to his site.
**** It was a modern adaptation with several of the characters' genders swapped, including Celia's, but it definitely worked and was very enjoyable, even if spectralbovine did not believe me about the lion.