(no subject)
I took an Ativan earlier for anxiety-related chest pain and I'm still kinda muddled, but whatever. I should've written about my trip with my cousins ages ago, but eh. I think I remember most of it. ^^;;
So the original plan was for them to come down from Nevada and get me, and then we were gonna go up to Seaside for the weekend, stay in a cheap ass Motel Six. Everything progressed as planned until they actually got here. Jen figured that Monterey's beach was pathetic, so she booked us a room at the Quality Inn up in Marina. I didn't mind that they'd changed the plans without telling me, I figured I was lucky to still get to go to the beach. The three of us piled into Jen's Saturn and headed off, cracking jokes and eating rice crispy treats along the way. I introduced them to Igor, and they both loved him. Jen put him up on the dashboard for a while in an attempt to scare oncoming drivers. Then Ash got Chicken out of a bag and introduced him to Igor. (Chicken is Jen's chicken hat. It's hilarious.)
Marina's not too far from here, a couple hours maybe, but while we were on the freeway we saw a sign for the Renaissance Faire and realized it was opening weekend. Jen pulled over, we all grabbed our phones, and in less than five minutes had maps and cost worked out. Drove up to Hollister (took foreeeeever and there's nothing out there but hills and cows and I think I saw a horse, maybe) and missed the place by half a mile. After we turned around we managed to park and get our tickets. So expensive! $25 per person, but there was an opening day special of two for one, so Ash and I bought together, and Jen doubled up with this nice lady we met at the gate. After we got in, all I could do was stare and go "HEEEEEEEE". So many costumes and so much coolness and weapons, yay. The food was expensive as hell (I paid $6.50 for a sausage on a roll, but I was starving) and so were all the items in the booths, but it was still just awesome to walk around and look at everything and pretend you were in another time.
We'd grabbed a schedule going in, and Ash found out there was supposed to be some horse show later on, and she kept bouncing, telling Jen and I to hurry up. Let's ignore the fact that every time my dear cousin saw something she liked, she'd get distracted and forget about the horses. After about eight or nine booths of this, we finally pulled her away from trying to put together a peasant's dress and dragged her to the arena. The horse show itself sucked, since they just walked them around the arena and had them put a foot up onto a box. The horses themselves were really pretty though. I was looking forward to leaving at that point, but then the jousting started, and oh BOY. They had four knights starting out, with each representing England, Scotland, France, and Germany. We were sitting in the French section, which Jen found hysterical since we ARE French. Partly. We're also Scottish, British, and Irish. So as the guys are fighting on the horses we're supposed to be rooting for our country, and I'm busy going deaf from the racket, especially thanks to Jen who keeps roaring in my ear, "GO FRENCHIE!"
The whole thing was just spectacular though, and even though you could tell that everything was choreographed, it was done really well. I still had my Jalen muse nitpicking the battles, though. >_>;; The whole thing lasted about an hour, and right before it ended my chest started tightening up really bad. All the dirt and straw and stuff had finally gotten to me, and sadly I hadn't expected it. So I told my cousins, and they got me away from the arena so I could take my inhaler. I would have preferred my nebulizer for something of this scale, but they didn't have anywhere to plug it in, so screwed. The first two puffs didn't work real well, which set off a panic attack. The fact that about a million people had showed up while we'd been in the arena didn't help. Asthma, panic, and crushed in a medieval sardine can. About 15 minutes later I took another two puffs, which Jen approved. (Yay for the registered nurse cousin) Things got a little better after that. My lungs started opening up, I started calming down, my cousins tried to distract me. Jen and Ash tried on these 14th century dresses that were just gorgeous, but required corsets that pushed your boobs right up into your face. They wanted me to try one on so we'd all be on film in the same thing, but I declined. Not 'cause of the boob thing, surprisingly. I was still trying to get my air back, didn't need to cut it off again. I did try on a velvet cloak though, and I LOVED it. $200 bucks, though. Ash almost bought her dress, but it was $400 and she couldn't quite justify spending that much, so no.
On our way out of the faire we passed by a booth with wooden weapons and I went "AH!" *cling* Almost got this dinky little sword with a yellow hilt, but I really wanted the long one with the green hilt and pommel. $12 vs $25. Jen said if I was gonna spend the money, ought to get something I liked. So I did. I think of it as the Jalen sword. ^^; It's not like what he uses in WR, but it's something I can picture him using.
Cripes this is long, and I haven't gotten to the beach yet. -_- We drove back from Hollister to Marina, checked into the motel, then had Subway and pizza for dinner. We were gonna stay up until 1 or 2 playing Uno and beating each other with Igor and Chicken - or making Igor and Chicken beat each other, whatever, we were weird - but Jen fell asleep with her glasses on and Ash was busy grading her 1st graders' papers, and I was starting to keel over, so that was the end of that day.
Next morning we dragged ourselves up and went into the office for the free breakfast. It was this tiny room friggin' packed with people, and I have no idea how I managed to break free with only cereal and some bread and this really crappy orange juice, when Jen walked away with two huge Belgian waffles, toast, rolls, biscuits covered in gravy, two oranges, and a cup of coffee. I mean, REALLY. She managed to fit all that onto two small plates. Ash just got the bare bones of breakfast, and we ended up sitting in the parking lot while we ate, discussing bird crap, of all things. Yeah, I know, wtf. Jen was telling some story about being crapped on while Ash was eating, and then she told her she needed to eat more, the cereal wasn't enough. So she holds out the plate with the biscuits and gravy, and it's just....ew. No. Ash had the same thought I did, because she pitched a fit and wouldn't touch it, while Jen was trying to look innocent.
"Why not?"
"Because!"
"Because why?"
"Because it's just disgusting! Jen! It looks like bird crap!"
*cue me almost falling off the curb in a fit of laughter*
After breakfast we packed up everything we were taking to the beach - which was a lot - and got ready to walk, since it was literally two blocks away. I was the voice of reason who demanded the car, because, um. Kite, Frisbee, three folding chairs, two towels, a fold out blanket, two backpacks loaded with food and water, Chicken, Igor, my sword, and a partridge in a pear tree. So we took the car, which turned out to be a GREAT thing. The parking lot is on the edge of a cliff. There's this huge sand dune you have to navigate down. That was pretty hard for me, what with my balance liking to mock me, and something about the angle of the ocean wasn't helping. I seriously considered letting myself roll at one point. But we got to the bottom and set up camp, and proceeded to be little kids flying the kite and building the sandcastle, and I took pictures of the sword with Igor and Chicken. Wrote our names in the wet sand with the sword point, then started worrying about absorption and mold. *snerk* The water was GREEN. And I was stupid and ran right up to the supposed high tide line to watch the water come in, and the first two times it had a long way to go, and then the third the ocean just reached out and smacked me. Shoes and socks, SOAKED. *applauds self* So I was almost without shoes the remainder of the day, but Ash happened to have a pair that fit me, so all was good.
We hung out on the beach for almost three hours, Ash played with this little boy who wanted to help us build our castle - we let him destroy it after, he was like Ethan Godzilla - then we decided to go back to the motel and clean up, since we had to be out by 12. Okay, the hill I came down was bad, but nothing like the one I had to go back up to get to the parking lot. I coulda taken the long way, but Jen was all "Oh no, it's a straight shot, you'll be fine", and Ash was already scaling it, and yeah. *thunk* I had my backpack on, the sword slung through the straps across my back, and a folding chair in it's bag slung over my shoulder. Climbing up that sand dune SUCKED. It was steep, I couldn't keep my balance properly because of where the weight was, it was really tiring for me, and my asthma decided to pop up and flip me off. I fell down twice, once in the sand and again when I reached the asphalt, and scraped up both my knees. Wheezed all the way back to the motel and took my medicine. Bah. But it could've been worse! I could've pitched over backwards and rolled right down the hill, plowing into Jen and knocking her ten feet. >__>
Got out of the motel right on time, but instead of going home we headed into Monterey, since Jen wanted to show me just how pathetic their beach really was. Heh. It's just this small stretch of sand that looks really dirty, covered in really big boulders. Um. After that we had lunch at Bubba Gump's, which drove me batshit because it was so loud, and there were so many people. Ash distracted me from my anxiety by showing me how to send the pictures we'd taken on their iPhones to my e-mail. Jen's phone was such a pain in the ass I calmed down pretty quick. Our server was this cute guy that kept coming by to talk to us, and since it was 'Talk like a pirate' day (which Jen would NOT let us forget), she managed to get this guy and his coworker talking like pirates. *facepalm* She also got him to take a picture with us. I need to ask her to send it.
We shopped for a bit after lunch and all ended up with little wooden bracelets covered in skulls and crossbones (again, Jen insisted), I got a watch with musical notes on the band and a stuffed orange kitty, and Ash bought a pirate skullcap that both Jen and I teased her about. She looked like some biker's girlfriend.
Um, brain dying now. Okay, so we went home from there, and there was much hugging at my house and 'I love you' and what a great time, and we need to do this again, and so on. And we probably will.
We're seriously considering Disneyland. <3
And now something that has absolutely nothing to do with the trip. Meet Oblivion!
Isn't she precious? Her fur is black, but with brown highlights up close, and her eyes are this pretty light green. And she loves me! That's like totally the best part. ^^
So the original plan was for them to come down from Nevada and get me, and then we were gonna go up to Seaside for the weekend, stay in a cheap ass Motel Six. Everything progressed as planned until they actually got here. Jen figured that Monterey's beach was pathetic, so she booked us a room at the Quality Inn up in Marina. I didn't mind that they'd changed the plans without telling me, I figured I was lucky to still get to go to the beach. The three of us piled into Jen's Saturn and headed off, cracking jokes and eating rice crispy treats along the way. I introduced them to Igor, and they both loved him. Jen put him up on the dashboard for a while in an attempt to scare oncoming drivers. Then Ash got Chicken out of a bag and introduced him to Igor. (Chicken is Jen's chicken hat. It's hilarious.)
Marina's not too far from here, a couple hours maybe, but while we were on the freeway we saw a sign for the Renaissance Faire and realized it was opening weekend. Jen pulled over, we all grabbed our phones, and in less than five minutes had maps and cost worked out. Drove up to Hollister (took foreeeeever and there's nothing out there but hills and cows and I think I saw a horse, maybe) and missed the place by half a mile. After we turned around we managed to park and get our tickets. So expensive! $25 per person, but there was an opening day special of two for one, so Ash and I bought together, and Jen doubled up with this nice lady we met at the gate. After we got in, all I could do was stare and go "HEEEEEEEE". So many costumes and so much coolness and weapons, yay. The food was expensive as hell (I paid $6.50 for a sausage on a roll, but I was starving) and so were all the items in the booths, but it was still just awesome to walk around and look at everything and pretend you were in another time.
We'd grabbed a schedule going in, and Ash found out there was supposed to be some horse show later on, and she kept bouncing, telling Jen and I to hurry up. Let's ignore the fact that every time my dear cousin saw something she liked, she'd get distracted and forget about the horses. After about eight or nine booths of this, we finally pulled her away from trying to put together a peasant's dress and dragged her to the arena. The horse show itself sucked, since they just walked them around the arena and had them put a foot up onto a box. The horses themselves were really pretty though. I was looking forward to leaving at that point, but then the jousting started, and oh BOY. They had four knights starting out, with each representing England, Scotland, France, and Germany. We were sitting in the French section, which Jen found hysterical since we ARE French. Partly. We're also Scottish, British, and Irish. So as the guys are fighting on the horses we're supposed to be rooting for our country, and I'm busy going deaf from the racket, especially thanks to Jen who keeps roaring in my ear, "GO FRENCHIE!"
The whole thing was just spectacular though, and even though you could tell that everything was choreographed, it was done really well. I still had my Jalen muse nitpicking the battles, though. >_>;; The whole thing lasted about an hour, and right before it ended my chest started tightening up really bad. All the dirt and straw and stuff had finally gotten to me, and sadly I hadn't expected it. So I told my cousins, and they got me away from the arena so I could take my inhaler. I would have preferred my nebulizer for something of this scale, but they didn't have anywhere to plug it in, so screwed. The first two puffs didn't work real well, which set off a panic attack. The fact that about a million people had showed up while we'd been in the arena didn't help. Asthma, panic, and crushed in a medieval sardine can. About 15 minutes later I took another two puffs, which Jen approved. (Yay for the registered nurse cousin) Things got a little better after that. My lungs started opening up, I started calming down, my cousins tried to distract me. Jen and Ash tried on these 14th century dresses that were just gorgeous, but required corsets that pushed your boobs right up into your face. They wanted me to try one on so we'd all be on film in the same thing, but I declined. Not 'cause of the boob thing, surprisingly. I was still trying to get my air back, didn't need to cut it off again. I did try on a velvet cloak though, and I LOVED it. $200 bucks, though. Ash almost bought her dress, but it was $400 and she couldn't quite justify spending that much, so no.
On our way out of the faire we passed by a booth with wooden weapons and I went "AH!" *cling* Almost got this dinky little sword with a yellow hilt, but I really wanted the long one with the green hilt and pommel. $12 vs $25. Jen said if I was gonna spend the money, ought to get something I liked. So I did. I think of it as the Jalen sword. ^^; It's not like what he uses in WR, but it's something I can picture him using.
Cripes this is long, and I haven't gotten to the beach yet. -_- We drove back from Hollister to Marina, checked into the motel, then had Subway and pizza for dinner. We were gonna stay up until 1 or 2 playing Uno and beating each other with Igor and Chicken - or making Igor and Chicken beat each other, whatever, we were weird - but Jen fell asleep with her glasses on and Ash was busy grading her 1st graders' papers, and I was starting to keel over, so that was the end of that day.
Next morning we dragged ourselves up and went into the office for the free breakfast. It was this tiny room friggin' packed with people, and I have no idea how I managed to break free with only cereal and some bread and this really crappy orange juice, when Jen walked away with two huge Belgian waffles, toast, rolls, biscuits covered in gravy, two oranges, and a cup of coffee. I mean, REALLY. She managed to fit all that onto two small plates. Ash just got the bare bones of breakfast, and we ended up sitting in the parking lot while we ate, discussing bird crap, of all things. Yeah, I know, wtf. Jen was telling some story about being crapped on while Ash was eating, and then she told her she needed to eat more, the cereal wasn't enough. So she holds out the plate with the biscuits and gravy, and it's just....ew. No. Ash had the same thought I did, because she pitched a fit and wouldn't touch it, while Jen was trying to look innocent.
"Why not?"
"Because!"
"Because why?"
"Because it's just disgusting! Jen! It looks like bird crap!"
*cue me almost falling off the curb in a fit of laughter*
After breakfast we packed up everything we were taking to the beach - which was a lot - and got ready to walk, since it was literally two blocks away. I was the voice of reason who demanded the car, because, um. Kite, Frisbee, three folding chairs, two towels, a fold out blanket, two backpacks loaded with food and water, Chicken, Igor, my sword, and a partridge in a pear tree. So we took the car, which turned out to be a GREAT thing. The parking lot is on the edge of a cliff. There's this huge sand dune you have to navigate down. That was pretty hard for me, what with my balance liking to mock me, and something about the angle of the ocean wasn't helping. I seriously considered letting myself roll at one point. But we got to the bottom and set up camp, and proceeded to be little kids flying the kite and building the sandcastle, and I took pictures of the sword with Igor and Chicken. Wrote our names in the wet sand with the sword point, then started worrying about absorption and mold. *snerk* The water was GREEN. And I was stupid and ran right up to the supposed high tide line to watch the water come in, and the first two times it had a long way to go, and then the third the ocean just reached out and smacked me. Shoes and socks, SOAKED. *applauds self* So I was almost without shoes the remainder of the day, but Ash happened to have a pair that fit me, so all was good.
We hung out on the beach for almost three hours, Ash played with this little boy who wanted to help us build our castle - we let him destroy it after, he was like Ethan Godzilla - then we decided to go back to the motel and clean up, since we had to be out by 12. Okay, the hill I came down was bad, but nothing like the one I had to go back up to get to the parking lot. I coulda taken the long way, but Jen was all "Oh no, it's a straight shot, you'll be fine", and Ash was already scaling it, and yeah. *thunk* I had my backpack on, the sword slung through the straps across my back, and a folding chair in it's bag slung over my shoulder. Climbing up that sand dune SUCKED. It was steep, I couldn't keep my balance properly because of where the weight was, it was really tiring for me, and my asthma decided to pop up and flip me off. I fell down twice, once in the sand and again when I reached the asphalt, and scraped up both my knees. Wheezed all the way back to the motel and took my medicine. Bah. But it could've been worse! I could've pitched over backwards and rolled right down the hill, plowing into Jen and knocking her ten feet. >__>
Got out of the motel right on time, but instead of going home we headed into Monterey, since Jen wanted to show me just how pathetic their beach really was. Heh. It's just this small stretch of sand that looks really dirty, covered in really big boulders. Um. After that we had lunch at Bubba Gump's, which drove me batshit because it was so loud, and there were so many people. Ash distracted me from my anxiety by showing me how to send the pictures we'd taken on their iPhones to my e-mail. Jen's phone was such a pain in the ass I calmed down pretty quick. Our server was this cute guy that kept coming by to talk to us, and since it was 'Talk like a pirate' day (which Jen would NOT let us forget), she managed to get this guy and his coworker talking like pirates. *facepalm* She also got him to take a picture with us. I need to ask her to send it.
We shopped for a bit after lunch and all ended up with little wooden bracelets covered in skulls and crossbones (again, Jen insisted), I got a watch with musical notes on the band and a stuffed orange kitty, and Ash bought a pirate skullcap that both Jen and I teased her about. She looked like some biker's girlfriend.
Um, brain dying now. Okay, so we went home from there, and there was much hugging at my house and 'I love you' and what a great time, and we need to do this again, and so on. And we probably will.
We're seriously considering Disneyland. <3
And now something that has absolutely nothing to do with the trip. Meet Oblivion!
Isn't she precious? Her fur is black, but with brown highlights up close, and her eyes are this pretty light green. And she loves me! That's like totally the best part. ^^