Friday, Dec. 22. Finishing key stuff at work before leaving on vacation. alenxa had the day off, but was sick. Dinner with maldis , andrea-wot , and zehntaur at Koji’s (shabu-shabu). Service was surprisingly terrible, but the company was great.
Saturday, Dec. 23. Shopping, by myself. Hit the Block, Main Place, and (briefly) the Borders at South Coast. Much weirdness.
Sunday, Dec. 24. Katie was well enough that we both went shopping. Finished up at South Coast. Which actually wasn’t bad for the first few hours. We got their around 11:00-11:30, parked less than 100 feet from a mall entrance, and the crowds were light. We ran into some former classmates at Williams Sonoma (well, Katie did — I was dealing with the cashier), then went across to the former Crystal Court to hit a couple of stores. Had lunch, hits a few more stores, came back to the main section of the mall…which had gone insane in the two hours we’d been gone. Left around 4:00 and spent the evening wrapping presents while Katie baked.
Monday, Dec. 25. Christmas. Went to my parents first for lunch, then we all drove down to visit my grandparents in Temecula. Ended up getting lots of pictures of my aunt’s dogs as they explored the back yard. Dinner was late due to an inaccurate or simply misprinted recipe that indicated a cooking time for the roast about two hours shorter than necessary, but on the plus side, leaving late meant there was practically no traffic except for the mile or two leading up to the 15/91 interchange in Corona.
Tuesday, Dec. 26. Dropped Katie off at work, then spent the day on a mix of Internet, running errands, and doing laundry. After work, went down to Laguna Hills Mall so I could pick up my tux and Katie could look for some of the last-minute checklist items for maldis and kayshabeast ‘s wedding. Had dinner at an Italian restaurant in the area called Scarantino’s.
Wednesday, Dec. 27. Drove into LA for the wedding. I’ve done this trip in ~40 minutes in good traffic, but allowed 2 hours because traffic is rarely good. Remembered a time in high school when the Literary Club went to see a matinée of Les Miserables at the Pantages. In the middle of the week. Leaving at lunchtime. On the Wednesday after Christmas. And despite allowing 2 hours, ended up at our seats literally as the opening fanfare began. Realized this didn’t bode well. As it turned out, everything was clear and fast up until we hit the 91, at which point it dropped down to stop-n-go. Arrived at the Bonaventure at 3:00, just in time for check-in, and managed to drop stuff in our room, then get back down to the lobby. Wandered around trying to figure out which part of the lobby we were supposed to wait in, briefly met Sean, Nicola, Chris and H’Sien, ended up waiting for the second round of the “shuttle” and made it to the rehearsal around 4. The rehearsal, dinner, and after-dinner get-together could probably fill its own post (and besides, 2/3 of the people reading this were there).
Thursday, Dec. 28. Breakfast downstairs in the hotel. Katie went off for the bridesmaids/groomsmaids hair+make-up session. I hopped on the Internet to check some work-related stuff, then walked around downtown LA sightseeing. I’ve never just spent time in the area. It’s always been a place to go for events. Drive in to see a play, drive out. Drive in to visit a museum, drive out. Got a little nervous when I realized I was walking around a major US city taking photos of buildings, but no security guards with too much time on their hands told me to stop. Grabbed lunch at a deli, sat down and was asked for change as I was unwrapping my sandwich. Decided to take it back to my hotel and eat it there. Went over to the groomsmen call, and we’re again into wedding territory. The wedding went very well, and again, I’ll jot stuff down in its own post. Too tired to go to the post-reception party at the hotel, though.
This way to weird LA photos…
Friday, Dec. 29. Slept in a bit. Packed. Went downstairs for a light breakfast, then went back to grab luggage and check out. Stopped on the way back to have lunch with alenxa’s parents. Got home earlier than expected, so we stopped at home to unload the car. Katie took a nap (she’d started coming down with a cold the night before). Went out to return the tux, then went to Katie’s cousin’s for a semi-Christmas dinner.
Saturday, Dec. 30. Mostly errands and stuff. Finally put away the sea of wrapping paper and ribbons left over from Sunday and Tuesday.
Sunday, Dec. 31. More random stuff. Watched the Claymation Christmas Special from the 1980s, which I had tracked down on DVD earlier in the year mainly to show Katie the “We Three Kings” sequence. (The three kings are camped in the desert, singing each verse solemnly, and then the camels jump in with an upbeat version of the chorus. After a while, the kings start glancing warily at the camels as they near the end of a verse. The whole show has a sort of off-beat humorous tone to it.) Picked up work on my website after several weeks’ break. Katie baked brownies, and we went over to my parents’ annual New Year’s Eve party. At one point, someone dragged out a tape of Closet Cases of the Nerd Kind, a 1980 parody of Close Encounters done in the form of an extended trailer. It still holds up, and is funny enough on its own terms, even if (like me) you don’t remember much about the original film.
Monday, Jan. 1. Lunch & coffee with wayens. (Though, come to think of it, I’m not sure any of us had actual coffee.) More errands (mostly stuff I forgot to get the day before). Watched a pair of Justice League episodes. Really got back to the Flash site. Intended to go to bed early, but ended up staying up late again.
Ah, Claymation, brings back memories. I especially love the dinosaur mc team. Can you say “let’s wostle!”? My favorite piece though was the bells. That one lone offbeat (both in rhythm and mind) bell just had to get on the conductor’s nerves. The choreography of music and humor was magnifico as was the finale. ^^ (One main impressive bit is the maestro’s hair, makes you wonder how clay could flow like that… :))
And hmm, you’re right I don’t think coffee was the order of the day. So much for a coffee house… he