Audition Day

Okay, so, wake up at 3:08 (the alarm went off at 3 but it took that long for me to register it in my sleep-brain!) brush my teeth, rip up the plastic for the ice-bucket and cover up the wrist band using a mesh of that and tape. (I did this with my glasses off.)

(Also I just realized that I’ve forgotten to take my lexapro for two days now! Maybe more, I cannot remember really before Wednesday. I’m not having any withdraw symptoms yet though, and usually I would by now! I do have it in my bag so I will take some tonight!)

And then I start figuring out which cleaning supplies are which- I never bring more than toothpaste because hotels always provide it- plus toiletries take up a lot of space and I never stay anywhere THAT long, anyway! I make sure to do this with my glasses on because it has occurred to me that TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!

Then I figure out how the shower works (and have a derp where I think that the water is not heating up but really I just have the handle turned wrong) then CLEAN OCCURS.

And it is VERY HARD when you are trying not to get the wrist on your primary hand wet. (I know that I have it covered but still being careful!)

So shower, dry (the towels, while they don’t SOAK much, are quite effective at drying. They just wipe the water right off of you!), put glasses on, take plastic off of wrist band, discover that I didn’t cover all of the edges on the hand-side of the seal in tape! Oh no!

The entire thing is moist but not ruined (yay!) so that is okay. I run a towel over it and my wrist to dry it off, then get dressed, make sure that I have everything, and OUT THE DOOR!

So then it’s a walk down to the Stadium! On the way, I pass homeless guys 5-9 (and at nine I decide that if I see one more, I will stop keeping count, because then it is a normal number for downtown, but I know that I will continue keeping track anyway.) homeless men 8 and 9 are awake and walking, 8 was talking to himself and laughing like he just remembered something funny, and 9 didn’t look at me! (as it happens, I think that all of the homeless people are on broadway! A guy that I met in line called it the Boulevard of broken dreams *an appropriate reference!* and I think that he is right!)

So then when I start getting to I street I start seeing other people headed to the stadium! One man on a bike knew where I was going, and very warmly said hi- he was just a regular morning person, not homeless, so I said hi back, and kept on my way.

Lots of people now, and when I get to the park I am put into the last section of corral number one (I know that they are called corrals because I heard a security guard saying that corral number 1 was almost full.)

Very lucky, I would have hated to be any later than that.

So then I wait, there is a guy there who is very outspoken and generally charismatic, and he sings (poorly, on purpose) the star spangled banner and stuff. (and when I start singing it with him, so does everybody else, except that we’re singing the real tempo and he’s not, so eventually we stop.) and for the most part he provides our entertainment until the sun starts coming up.

At five o-clock, security pulls a fast one on us by telling us to go forward!

Then they calls us back, saying “good job”. I think that a few of us appreciated it, but it made us unsure if we should stay seated of not after that, and we weren’t going to move again until at least 8.

So I wait, crack open my water bottle, play some Sudoku and ink a badge for Dominique, then just generally loiter, make silly comments at and about the loud guy (“boy, the camera loves him.” “I think he loves the camera more than it loves him.”) and eventually the guy next to me asks about my scarf and the badges on it, and we get to rambling at each other. So far the people that I’ve talked to have been surprised that I came ALL THE WAY from sacramento, but I know for a fact that there’s one girl from japan and one person from texas!

we have another fake-out about going forward in line, but this time it’s because people got excited and security tells us to stay put, darnitall. Then we wait until he tells us to go because when security tells you to stay put you STAY PUT DAMNIT.

When we get to the front-ish of the line they kind of half-assed check our bags and stuff, tell us to throw away our food and our water, too, if it’s opened. (D:)

He couldn’t tell if mine was open or not but I sort of knee-jerked toward truth so I threw it away still 2/3 full T_T at this point I’ve lost Kevin but that’s okay, because our seats are not near each other anyway.

So I get into the place and I heard somebody saying that there were more turnstiles open than just the three in front, so I skipped that part of the line by using my listening skills. Once I was in, I called mom back and decided whether or not buying a coke for five dollars was a good idea. (it is.) and bought a hot dog and a coke for 10. Then I went and found my seat, sat down and waited.

Eventually the producer came on and he’s a pretty funny guy- gave us our instructions and explained why they were playing lady gaga’s “born this way” on repeat (it’s the city song!) and then we sat and did all of the group cheers and stuff.

Following is the list of stuff that we did and how many takes it took.

“Welcome to San Diego” (said by a group of ladies with a banner, then panned to a cheering crowd) (1 take)

“Welcome to San Diego!” (said by the crowd and then a pan of a cheering crowd.) (2 takes because the producer didn’t say the final number of the countdown out loud.)

“Because it’s hot in san diego!” (said by the crowd.) (one take.)

“Give ME that golden ticket!” (crowd, two takes? I said one on fb and twitter but I might have been wrong. It’s either this or one of the two after it that needed two takes!)

“My journey starts HERE!” (crowd, see above)

“And it all starts here!” (crowd, see above.)

And then, sung, “I’m on the right track baby I was born this way.” (one practice, one take.)

“don’t be a drag just be a queen (repeat)” (two takes.)

And random cheering! (two takes)

Producer quote of the day: “Okay, Now that we’ve got our proverbial crap together…”

We also learned that nobody in American idol is a loser! Just non-winners (hah!)

And we sang happy birthday to one of the staff.

Lots of hurry up and wait after that. By seat group is in the middleish and I’m in the middleish of that, so, no rush.

I bought some wristbands (souvenirs yay!) and went to the bathroom (there are some guys dredded like the Fruit of the Loom outside, singing a futz of Katy Perry’s Kiss Me, except about how you should pick FotL as your underwear. I could not get video because I was a LEETLE late D:), then to the food again because I want a goddamned churro! I somehow got two, and this became a problem that I did not know existed (I also got a cup of ice water) and tried to push off my spare churro onto others, and failed horribly until I found a nice older lady who was here as support for her (daughter?) and talked to her for awhile ‘bout where we’re all from and why we’re here and what we think of the crowd and stuff. She doesn’t want the churro either, but when her kid and the others sitting next to her get back, they do! So that works out nicely.

So I go back to my chair and futz around on the computer for a bit, including typing up my journal for the rest of yesterday and to keep my phone charged!

Shortly after that a guy comes down and says “she said that you can charge a phone on your laptop?” because I’d mentioned that that was most of the reason that I’d even BROUGHT my computer! And I’m like, well, if you have a usb charger.. but there might be an outlet around here, let me see if any of my cords fit? And what do you know, one does!

None of the staff knows if there are any outlets but we find one anyway! And once he get shis stuff done we go back to our seats.

And then, OH MY GOD AND THEN I REALIZE THAT THERE ARE SNO CONES HERE AND I MUST HAVE ONE.

I MUST.

But since the sno-cones are walking vendor only, I have to find an atm!

So OFF TO THE GUEST HELP CENTER

And he says

Oh my god

He says “you see that vertical hanging banner over there that says padres? It’s just by that.”

I wanted to say “honey, ALL the banners are hanging vertically and say padres.” But what I said was “thank you” because he pointed in the right direction, so I found it easy enough after that anyway.

I get 20 out and go back to my seat to wait for the sno cone man and WHAT LUCK HE IS TAKING HIS BREAK IN MY SECTION!

Haha. Sno cone achieved! He is a fantastic fellow, but he spends a lot of time in the sun, and it shows on his face (even though he’s probably in his twenties.)

And I feel bad for the poor iced tea man :3 everybody wants a sno cone but not a tea! (“get your iced tea here, iced tea!” “Sno cones are better!”)

I take that back to my seat and nom on it, plug my stuff back into the computer

ON MY GOD IT IS NOT CHARGING ACK

So then I had to ..

Had to go to the place where the outlet is, which did not make me happy except for that there is shade there. So that’s nice I guess, but it makes me uneasy because they don’t announce over the intercom which group is going next! (actually they do, but I didn’t start noticing until someone pointed it out to me!)

Go to the bathroom, drop a 5$ bill and let the girl who found it have it (because she asked me if it was mine and I didn’t even notice and all that.)

So.. you know, back to the seat, talk to some people and suddenly OH MY GOD THEY ARE CALLING THE SECTION RIGHT BEFORE US!

Excitement abounds!

The guy with the magahorn comes to us, gives us our instructions, leads us out row by row down to the stip on the field..

More line waiting, grouped into a set of four… we’re at table number five.

Watch two groups go ahead before us- group one, nobody gets through, group two, one person gets through.

My groups?

Uh.

Well I’m the only one who didn’t get through :|

She said “you’re pretty good but you need more practice.”

I: (imho everybody else in my row kind of sucked- the guy was okay but he did the trendy whoah-oh-oh wavering shit too much D:)

I’m fairly certain that the 3 major deciding factors were song choice, nervous, and the fact that I was pretty late in the day…. There was a direct correlation between time of day and how many people that left the table winners.

Uh, so anyway, out of the stadium I go, and the security guard at the gate was kind enough to wish me a good day (thank you) and I take the walk back to the hotel..

There’s a few people handing out flyers for an online talent show (they picked an excellent spot, preying off of the hurt psyches of AI rejects!) and I took one because why the hell not, but I PROBABLY won’t visit the website =P

It was nice being able to see this part of downtown san diego in the daytime (island/first/broadway/Columbus up to the our lady church.) and it is very pretty.

Decided I was hungry and stopped at the Westfield Horton Plaza, because I heard that there was food there! And of course I got distracted and bought some plushies and a hat.

But then I got some food and it was.. not very good. >>

After I stopped by the hotel I went to the dick blick store and then to another food place..

Wherever I went, they have amazing lasagna. You should go there and eat it.

and uh, yeah. Got a plane out tomorrow at like eleven in the morning thanks to a person that mom knows.

PICTURES HERE

http://www.thedesertwinds.com/travel/AmericanIdolSanDiego2011/day3/

Little Italy

Okay, so, I get the thing that I need from wal-mart, (apparently nobody else in san-diego knew that this wasn’t a 24 hour wal-mart, either, but they all got there closer to seven anyone thirty your room will be ready.

Well shit, so I have to kill some time now.

I decide eventually to walk down to the way.) and start hiking up the hill, thinking that maybe I can get a bus+trolley back into town?

I mean, it’s only like 5$, but then it occurs to me that.. busses and shit like exact change.

So, I hike back down and call the guy that brought me TO the wal-mart (it was 35$ last time, and we got along pretty well, so he likes me.) and he says, I have a fare, but it’s a short one, I can be there in like twenty minutes- so I say, Okay, that’s cool. I mean, I’ve been here since four thirty so what’s another twenty?

So he gets there, we head back to porto vista, he gets lost but it’s cool because I’m paying cash, so he lets me pay less than the meter actually says because it was his bad- and I suppose that it was like a huge favor, me paying him cash, so he lets me know that any time I need a cab, remainder of my trip, to give him a call- he’s not a nighttime cabby, but he does work into the night, and I found him originally at like 4, so- anytime.

Anyway, so, at the hotel, I go in, room’s still not ready. It’s the same guy tha I talked to last time, so he says, room’ll be ready at one thirty- so I have them hold my clothes bag and ask where there’s a plug for my computer and phone and stuff- they say, there’s some in the Glass Window (their restaurant) and there’s another lounge/thing on the roof of the fourth floor, and also there’s those floor ones in the lobby here.

I opt for the roof because I figure that there’s nobody up there, but I can’t find a plug, and eventually I go into the restaurant because it’s kidn of cool in there, still can’t find a plug, so I have some food.

Holy crap, okay.the 5$ for the oj was okay, because it was a pretty big OJ even if it couldn’t be refilled.

But, I decided to get the salmon and bagel because for some reason both of those things sounded good.

And. It gets here and it is this HUGE ASS PLATE (like, a foot square, no joke) with like, less than half of its area covered in food. (wtf?) so okay, that’s a little disheartening because I payed 14$ for this, but it’s a hotel, their food is overpriced, whatever.

And then I go to eat the salmon. (oh, there was some like, pepper and tomatoes and stuff on there too, chopped, to eat with the salmon.) and it’s …

Cold.

Okay, what the SHIT?! I mean, okay. It’s cooked, and At least they didn’t skimp me on the fucking bagel, but seriously. Small portion and cold? Not cool, you guys.

But the girls were nice and pretty quick, so I gave them a very small tip for that, but the food wasn’t worth what I paid for it. Quite disappointed, and hope that if I get to take advantage of the breakfast tomorrow, that it’ll be more substantial.

I’ve only killed like a half an hour at this point, so I decide to go down to the marina. I’ve already donw the boat thing once or twice, so I just look. End up finding a fellow who does name illuminations and look around his booth for awhile, before I start walking back. (I still haven’t killed that much time.) On the way I pass a 7-11, so I pop in and get some tape (to strengthen my wristband) and a water (to bring to the auditions, since it’s the only thing that we’re allowed to bring in with us.) then keep going..

Settle into the lobby, plug in my stuff, putz about for awhile, listening to the front desk to hear if any rooms are ready… call mom back, etc…

Eventually I get wind that there might be some ready as early as noon, so I wait a bit longer before going up and (there’s different people there now.) asking about my room, retrieving my bag, getting my key…

And they’ve put me in room 420, so of course I MUST call my friend Shade Koba IMMEDIATELY because he is a toker and it was amusing as hell. He doesn’t answer so I start getting ready to go to bed because goddamnig I have been up for how long now? I’m not really tired but I know that I need sleep so I crank the AC up, and what do you know, they have a sheet on top of the comforter! (which was awesome)

And I must mention this, because. Oh my god this bed is hard.

It’s not uncomfortable hard like the ones at Mendocino, it’s kind of like..

Uh, have you ever sat down on a tempurpedic memory foam mattress?

Okay, so, you know how when you sit down, it’s like hard for a moment before it starts to slowly cave in to fit you?

This is like that, except for no caving in, like. It’s just that initial oomph that you get.

Kind of strange, but beggars cannot be choosers! And otherwise I like the room. It’s very small and very simple, which lives up to its purported European-ness.

So anyway, I sleep. Get a few phone calls here and there but otherwise get in the better part of 8 hours.

Around 8 I get up (I tried to sleep again but couldn’t) so I turn on the TV, channel flip, then pull on some half-ass clothes and watershoes and go to get some ice. Can’t find the machine right away, but there’s an employee nearby and he lets me use their ice room! (thank you sir!) so I do that and go back and watch Despicable Me until that station goes fuzzy for some reason (also I am internetting at the time.)

After awhile I realize that I should eat because even though I’m not hungry, I haven’t eaten since the half of a sandwich that I’d had that morning, so I post on Facebook about how frustrating it is to not know where a mcdonalds is, and Ashley lets me know that there’s a jack in the box a few blocks away!

Short walk later, and I’m ordering a chicken sandwich of some kind and helping a lady find the rite aid. (wait, when I said that I went to a 7-11 earlier I meant rite aid.)

Eat the food, and the guy behind the counter (who was the first one to see my bracelet AND know what it means) tries to start a conversation when he’s on his break but I AM AN IDIOT and got VERY CONFUSED and ruined the opportunity for both of us. (I AM SO SORRRY YOU SEEM AWESOME SIR)

So. Uh. Walk back, ditz for a bit, set my alarm for three, and conk out!

HERE ARE PICTURES

http://www.thedesertwinds.com/travel/AmericanIdolSanDiego2011/day2

I’ve only seen three homeless people today!

And by “today” I of course mean “two days”

Let me begin by telling you that, at the start of my typing this, I have been awake approximately 25.5 hours. There was one 15-30 minute nape in there, but it was rather fitful and the only reason that I even know I was ever asleep is because I woke up to a guy standing over me putting his bags away; and he most definitely was not there before.

Let us begin.

4:30 AM the alarm goes off. Of course I don’t really hear it until like 4:38 because GOD FORBID I COULD TURN UP THE VOLUME (on the radio.)

I of course barely slept anyway, having tried very hard to go to bed at 8 (or 9?) and failing miserable- including waking up at 1 and then having a hard time falling back asleep because DSFJKAKSL;KFASKL

Anyway, so, shower, finish packing. (I packed mom’s toothbrush instead of mine, WOE) go to dad’s, wait for him to get out of the shower…

DRIVE TO TRAIN

SEE HOMELESS MAN

LEAVE SPRITE IN CAR

Proceed training for like 16 hours. I was actually quite surprised- it both departed and arrived on time!

Not too much to say other than “oh my god 16 hour train ride”- thankfully I’ve forgotten most of it- I pretty successfully managed to make it go by as quickly as a 16-hour train ride can by doing that simple man trick that evades woman: nothing.

(I’m actually quite good at it for a female.)

Spent a fair amount of time in the lounge because, for some reason, the room made of windows was the coolest. (???) and bought perhaps three lunches from the Café Lounge (and in all four Sierra Mists.) I got to say, this lady was amazing. She reminded me of one of my aunts, and was like super good at banter (which is the quickest way to my heart, haha!) overall just a swell gal.

I also got to talk to an older lady who was returning home to Fullerton (after a vacation/visit of some kind in.. san.. jose?) she was quite fantastic, as well.

And, of course, there was a small child. Somewhere between crawling and walking (and arguable not terribly proficient at crawling :3) beautiful little buy with the most gorgeous of eyes.

So of course I offered to his mother to let him play with my glasses (I had assessed that there was no way HE could break them, and anyone walking down the aisle was already stepping over the baby- the glasses would be near him, ergo, glasses=safe.)- his mother (especially once seeing the prescription) was certain that he would love to play with them.

Alas, he did not, and this left both of us rather confused- but we agreed that he did not want them because they were not on somebody’s face.

Also our conductor was a regular kidder, you know. “bud will not make you wiser” was one he said a few times-

And of course, the solar eclipse that happened at 1:05 (precisely when we went through a tunnel ;P)

I would like to take this moment to tell you all that there is no cell service on Surf Beach.

After the stop in LA (during which I got discombobulated and thought that I was in New York- I blame the tired. ALWAYS blame the tired.) another train- this time a commuter one, the surfliner or whatever the hell Amtrak calls it. Felt much faster, more comfy seats, all that crap….

By the last three stops I was left in the car with an old-ish Asian woman of some kind- likely a little hard of hearing and versed-but-not-quite-fluent-in-English… which meant that when our train suddenly had no power (aside from basic lights) – or as stopped for FAR TOO LONG at the San Diego Old Town station. . . I had to try to translate into clear-spoken-english what was going on.

And I also had to try to understand what she was asking me about.

Failure might be too light of a word.

Oh yeah, the train was stopped too long in old town.

Apparently some guys thought that it would be a grand idea to have a car collision over the train tracks, so the railway had to get involved and inspect shit that didn’t need inspecting :/, half hour delay, ONE stop left :|

So, out of the train (once we get there,) into a cab (at which time I remember that I actually function pretty well without other people around.), down to petco park where…

There are like 6, 7 people there to register participants, but, like, nobody but me. (thank you golf-cart-people for helping me find the entrance!)

Though by the time I was finished regging there was a girl next to me from japan? Came here just for this O-o (I think?)

So, they give me some extra paperwork, my ticket..

And my wristband.

And they PUT THE WRISTBAND ON ME.

Bear in mind, the thing isn’t until tomorrow.

Why are you putting the wristband on me NOW?!

HOW AM I GOING TO SHOWER?!

*end of the world*

I feel bad for the people who got there Wednesday. Jeesus.

I mean, mine already looks pretty scuffed up because I haven’t had a chance to get anything to protect it with yet. (I’m thinking maybe clear tape? They recommend something like Saran Wrap.) and they’re like DON’T GET IT WET but this is California and I’m going ot fucking sweat all over it :|

Anyway, so now I go to find the hotel. (and on the way pass some guys looking for the AI auditions- and I knew the directions to get there! And one homeless man who smelled like pissweed.) It’s, like, almost 2 in the morning so I know that I’m not going to be able to get to my room now, but I’d like to know where I’m going later- so I go find it, double check the reg, lounge and fill out some forms, then set off to find The Amtrak Station again, because I am looking for a cab.

Because I need to go to wal-mart and the closest one is too far away to walk to.

… well, on the way, get lost and find a cab anyway (oo!) and definitely solidify my song choice. (thank you ryan!) Also a homeless man mumbling in his sleep.

Cab (like 34$!) to wal-mart, tell him to leave me there even if it’s not open (he doesn’t think that it will be, but it opens sooner than Porto Vista so THERE.) and he gives me his card so that he can come pick me up if I’d like. (probably gonna take the bus/trolley)

Security Guard sees me get out of the cab, tells me it opens at seven (I know, I just looked at the door) I tell him that I don’t have anywhere better to be, and he lets me loiter on the bench.

And then I wait. It’s like 4:36 AM when I get there, settle in. call mom because she called me at 4 to check in.. wait, play some Radiant Historia.

at 5:45 ish…

I start looking for a vending machine, because even though I need to pee I am thirsty.

COKE.

OH MY GOD COKE

I HAVE BEEN AWAKE MORE THAN 24 HOURS AND THIS IS DELICIOUS.

OH MY GOD <3

And then because I still have another hour to kill, I write this journal.

It’s almost 6:30 now. I’mm post the three pictures that I have when I can....

oh.

and I'm at wal-mart because i am in desperate need of a bra. my good one ran away and this one likes to let my tits pop out the bottom. *tmi but true*

HERE ARE THE PICTURES:

www.thedesertwinds.com/travel/AmericanIdolSanDiego2011/day1

Almost time for Another big one, so to speak!

I've been- three places since the Wales trip last year.
I want to a christmas-sort of thing with my family, Decembertime.
Further Confusion 2011 (best con yet, certainly!)
and, for a weekend a few weeks ago- Mendocino. I'll get some pictures uploaded as soon as I can.

What I'm giving you warning about now, is I'm headed down to San Diego for the American Idol Auditions this next week here, I'll try to do a mostly daily post, like with Wales, but we'll see ;3

Home safe and sound!

fww, guys.
that was a LONG ASS DAY.

i think total traveling time (including layovers and car time) came out to over 24 hours >_o

(how do i know?
I woke up at 8:30 PM pacific, and the plane landed in sacramento at 10:05 pacific the next day)

got around four/five hours of sleep in there during that time... so it wasn't all bad.

but still D:

ANYWAY, so.

wake up at 4:30 or so, shower, say goodbye to pat and we're on our way to london from cardiff.
We get to the airport three hours early, which turns out to be a good thing, since we're easily confusable. . . . check in, check our bags (which requires us going through a mini-border.... and we totally predicted which guy we'd be talking to)

And then it's through security (which was a minihassle because kriz accidentally grabbed both of the london-jfk tickets, leaving me with ONLY the jfk-sacramento tickets. . . and he likes to leave immediately after he's done his thing, which means we have to yell at him to get him back over to us for ticket trading purposes. :C

mm, security itself is no big thing. . . and then it's waiting around for an hour and a half or so until our plane boards. . .which is a pain just because apparently london doesn't know what gate things are at until the planes have been at a gate for half an hour.

eh... anyway, we start heading toward the gate where we do that thing where we have to show the people at the desk our boarding passes. . .

and then they pull me aside for additional security screening O-o
I get the impression that my name was on a list of people they had ready BEFOREhand, just by the way it all went down.

They were pretty cool about it. . .(spent the first minute or so trying to get my baseball cap onto my dragon plush so that a: he wouldn't fall down and b: he'd be able to see) but it did get fairly awkward just because there was a pat-down, and then they decided that they'd be swabbing all of my electronics. . . which wouldn't have taken as long if the only available swab-testing machine wasn't ten gates away. >_o

bah well.

anyway, so onto the plane and i did that thing where i forgot something again. . .

and this time it was my backpack D:
so i run back out and then back in. . . .

and Zach starts getting pissy because the plane is filling up and we're seated in a full five-person middle area. (but we're on the end, so i don't see what the problem is.)
There ends up being this REALLY nice set of british people sitting behind us (like, amazing. it's. . . two women and then one of their kids... who wants to sit next to the window but not next to his chaperons) . . . but yeah. loved the hell ouit of them...

and once the plane takes off there's plenty to do, given there's free pseudo-videogames, movies, and a coupla shows and such. . .

plus two meals. . .

we watched Iron man 2. . . again, and part of Shrek 4, an episode of CSI, and an episode of bones. . . and between those things and a nap, the flight went very quickly.

anyway.. then we deplane and go through the border again. (and i swear to god, if every single trip to the border entails a LONG ASS WALK from the terminal, i will laugh/cry.)
...

anyway, this time... we had a little more fun, because JFK wasn't under construction (like heathrow is) so they had up these TV things trying to sell the U.S. to people who were already coming in anyway. (which was especially funny considering everybody in this particular line. . . ALREADY LIVES THERE)
it was the single most pompous, self-absorbed thing i have ever heard, and i hope everyone else who lives here gets to hear it someday so that they can laugh.

. . .

anyway, so that goes by smoothly enough, and then we have to wait to pick up our bags. . . and then finish going through customs. . . and then make a left (LEFT KRIZZLE, NOT STRAIGHT READ THE DAMNED SIGNS) to re-check our bags. (there's a kiosk made just for it)
and then. . .

back through security.

the people there were extremely helpful getting us through quickly, too. (oh shit, your plane boards at 4? go into that line!) but the other passengers, not so much.

there was one couple who, like. . . squeezed in front of us in line somehow and needed like a bazillion buckets for their shit. . .

and then the woman forgot to take off her necklaces.

nuh-uh. no way you're getting through the metal detector still wearing all your bling, honey.
NO.
WAY.

. . . anyway, so then we dart through to our gate (which we knew because thankfully american airlines tells you these things even though your boarding passes don't) and sit to wait for a bit. . . during which many phone calls are had.

and then.. ONTO THE PLANE.

which ends up leaving like half an hour late because of DUMB (i mean, uh, construction)
and in the end results in
"if you are on the continuation of this flight to sacramento, you will have to deplane and go to gate C28"
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFf

now.
we landed in terminal A.
Terminal C.
that's two terminals over.

MONORAIL TIME.

we made it JUST IN TIME, too, holy fuckin' shit.

and in the end our flight actually landed five minutes early..
which doesn't mean anything because apparently nobody knows how to open the airplane doors. (in both the dallas and sacramento landings, like half the plane was up and ready to move,but NOBODY WAS MOVING, and it wasn't because of one fucker taking up space, i think)

... so, anyway, we get confused for a moment because our plane docked in the alaska/horizon/jetblu/continental side of terminal B, instead of the American (and whatever else is there) side of terminal B.
. . .

so we had to walk extra far to find our baggage. >>

and we get outside to find out that Mom's gonna be a bit late picking us up because there's apparently some sort of god-knows-what on I5 and everyone has to stop going northbound because OH NO THERE'S A FLARE ON THE ROAD ARGH.

but yeah.

and then we got home.
and slept.

BORING ZOO IS BORING

ARGH HEADACHE.

... wait.

that's the end of the day.

I SHOULD TELL YOU THIS STORY FROM THE BEGINNING.

Wake up at eight, shower, wake up kriz, he showers, and then WE DRIVE
about an hour and a half
to get to Bristol.
to go to the zoo.

ZOOOOOOOOOOO

Anyway, so we meet up all in front of the train station (which, i swear to god, seems to contain some sort of portal that takes you to a place where train tracks are, because i never SEE any trains or tracks ANYWHERE except in stations)-

um, anyway, so while we're waiting for the last few people, sae and I head down into the station to search out a Cash machine. . .i pull out my last ten quid and he pulls out a bit more, including a ten to get kriz into the zoo...

with my fifteen i can get kriz and I bus tickets, and with the ten i can get myself into the zoo (which is usually 13 or so a person, but is 9 if you're in a group of ten or more)

mmm..... and kriz is being mopey, so i buy him an ice cream. which he proceeds to not eat for awhile. D:

ah, after that we establish a time to meet back up (which everybody except for the guy who set the time could have sworn was 4.00 PM, so i think he's just making shit up ;3)

and then..

we split up.

since kriz is being mopey and sae's taking pictures, i end up by myself, walk around the zoo once or twice, then find kriz in the bug rooms, where he's starting to perk up a bit.. kind of.

then it's around the zoo again, including through the butterfly room, and back to the food court where we find the rest of the furries...

after a bit of dawdling there, we go to lead Sae to the Meerkats.

As i recall, some people followed us, and kriz starts to send fish into a tizzy by dropping things into the water (will have video for that if/when i can cut it down, because of course they stopped responding once i turned the camera on)
... but anyway, that ensued in great lols.

and then.. halfway to the meerkats...

RAIN OCCURS.
ARGH.

kriz runs out of it, sae runs to catch up with kriz, and i just keep walking at my normal speed-

they see me come around the bend sopping wet and kriz goes "Oh fuck that"

so we sit underneath the trees for a bit before i realise that we're right next to the place where we can clock our running speeds..

my fastest so far is 22.1 mph~ kriz i think hit 30.8 but usually hovered around 25 or so.
i would have killed for a bit more room to work up to speed, but still~

anyway, still fucking raining we try to find the other furries again, and we do...
huddled under an umbrella (ella ella eh eh eh)
myself and one other stand out in the rain, though (cuz we're hardcore) and we get to talking about theme parks and the like, and what's open when and in what weather can one be expected to find people there...

and then the rain lets up just enough that we can head back to the giant tarp that covers the food place.
after a while there (during which time we talk mostly about snow) we head back out to the meerkats again, then around to the parts of the zoo we haven't seen yet. . .

some of which (like the "trash" exhibit) are extremely frightening.
(also by this time kriz has been a bit more cheerful for some time.. since a little before the fish incident)

so after we run through the zoo again, we head to the original meeting point to wait until it's time to go, during which we discover the gift shop and dick about (BUG EYES PLUSHIES ARGH)

mmm, and spend the rest of the time waiting for the hat-man to get back so we can leave. . .

and we leave just in time to wait for the bus.

so to pass the bus-waiting time, kriz gets an ice cream, and i get two twisters.
which are made of POPSICLEGASM.

>>

mm, yes.

then it's on the bus back to the station, and then from the station to the Knights Templar Pub, at which point there is much eating and conversation.

and i start to develop a headache due to too much crackage of the neck-bones.
D:


also that was the single most boring zoo i have ever been to, which is saying something, as all zoos are pretty boring.

anywho, tomorrow we will be sleeping in most of the time, and on monday we'll be getting up at four to head back to london for our flight home :3

CASTELLS EVERYWHERE

ALRIGHT GUYS.

Today we went to see. . .

CASTLES!

yep/
finally some good old fashioned castles-
we've been here how long?
and how long did it take us to go see a castle?!


Anyway, first up was Caerphilly..

got quite a few pictures here and was my favorite of the two. . .

a lot of it was still intact, and hasn't been "renovateD" per se except to put in some electricity and fire points and the like...

jus.t
-holy wow-

had an excellent view of welsh countryside, too. . .

and a shitton of stairs and some GREAT places to climb all over...

also a ballista.

and then to Castell Coch, which i guess is a site for filming fairly often that..

frankly did end up feeling very set-like...

i dunno, something about it just rubbed me all the wrong way. it has been rebuilt and renovated by.. someone who i think didn't do his research too well O-o

eh..

anyway, during the course of this one we lost Krizzle twice, and one of those times i guess he also fell asleep O-o


ff.

so back home and then later, dinner, because kriz and I wanted to say thank you for all the Salaman family's done for putting us up ^_^

We ended up eating out at this... strangely fancy chinese place. . . which i think qualifies as my first time eating proper chinese food-

but holy shit man.
85 pound for the five of us to eat @_@

edit: Have some pictures, guys