KJ

So I never did report on my weekend in Los Angeles! The reason for the trip: my friend A currently has a student membership to The Magic Castle, which is a magician's club in Hollywood. She's been talking the place up for years, so I jumped on this chance to go, roadtripping down with a few other friends (S, E, and DK) for the weekend, and we did some other stuff while we were there, including a Warner Brothers studio tour (highly recommended if you have even the slightest interest in television or film-making -- look, Stars' Hollow! and Central Perk! ) and Disneyland, where I hadn't been for over a decade.

The Castle was pretty awesome -- we watched four shows, including two in the Close-up Gallery, which were the best since it only seats 30 and so no one is more than a few feet from the stage. So you get a great view of what's happening, but both magicians were so good that the closer view didn't give the game away. Also awesome: two magicians were in line with us for a show, and they did a bunch of card tricks while we waited. A says that kind of thing happens a lot.

Then Disneyland, which I love. Non-ironically, even. Yeah, it's all fake, but so what? It's still brilliantly designed, and the rides are fun, and it's neat to see all the kids -- big and small alike -- walking around with a bit of wonder on their faces. Maybe I'd burn out if I went more often, but I go rarely enough that I can still get excited, every time. I hope I get back sooner than 10 years from now.

After a drive, some errands, and a booze run, we are now settle in for the night with food, games, and delicious adult beverages (I have a lemon drop in hand as I type this (not literally)). Considering how much hilarity we had just driving around town, I predict that this is going to be an awesome, awesome weekend. :D

I might get my monthly wrap-up post done today, or I might not. Given that I'm experience typing fail already, it might be a terrible idea, or it might be highly entertaining....

Today, we went to Monterey Bay Aquarium to see the fishies.

( Selected fishies beneath the cut. )

Sadly, the sea otter exhibit is under renovation until March, although we did get a look at some furry little heads swimming around in the kelp beds, plus I also saw a sea lion. They were pretty far away, but aquarium staff were handing out binoculars on the outside deck, so instead of just squinting and asking ourselves if that was really an otter or just our imagination, we could tell that they were actual real sea otters, swimming around on their backs and diving underwater. Still, it's not the same as seeing them right there, up close and personal. Guess we'll have to go back sometime, oh dear.

Thank you for being a place that I can reliably connect to the Internet. *clings to sweet, sweet Internet*

My hotel last night was nice, but it was far enough outside of town that I had no cell phone reception -- no service at all, much less data -- and it didn't have wireless. At least, I don't think it had wireless; there was a network that I could connect to, but it was terribly flaky and I gave up on it after about an hour. I suspect that I was actually sneaking wireless from someone else who brought their own. Thank you, whoever you are. I can do without checking the 'Net during the day, but if I don't have it at night or in the morning, I feel cut off, especially

Yesterday's drive was gorgeous. Perfect sunny day, not too much traffic, and the coast up here is so beautiful. I took some phone snaps, which I will post to Tumblr soon. Now I am in Fort Bragg, which is hands-down the biggest city on my trip since I left the freeway in San Rafael. Today is supposed to be rainy, and it rained last night, so I'll probably take this next leg a little more slowly. Next stop: Gold Beach, OR.

The beach was fantastic. Beautiful, relaxing. Once I got past the rocky shore, swimming in the Mediterranean Sea was lovely, lovely, lovely. Not swimming-pool warm, but easy to get used to, and the salinity made it easy to just gently bob around. We also walked around the cute town, had good food -- focaccia is a specialty of the region -- and met my friend M's family, including the aunt whose apartment we're using.

On the way up, it was noted that our train went through the city of Pisa, so yesterday we decided to make a stopover on the trip back to check out its most famous monument. The cathedral is actually really lovely, and I'll try to post more pictures of that detour when I get home.

Today was a tourist day. We visited several churches, including Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, which is nestled within the ruins of an ancient Roman bathhouse, and San Clemente, a 12th century church built on the site of a 4th century church, which was itself built on the ruins of a 1st century temple to the Roman god Mithras. This kind of repurposing of land is not at all unusual in Rome -- it's almost harder to build without disturbing some sort of ancient ruin -- but what's different here is that both levels of ruins beneath have been excavated while the church above was left intact. Sadly, no photographs are allowed, or I'd have a thousand, but the ruins are too fragile and flash photography would certainly destroy them. There are some at the link above. If you're ever in Rome, it's totally worth a visit -- even if you don't have a friend along who is an archaeologist by profession.

Also today we went back to the Pantheon, where I have been before, but I'll always go back again. Then dinner, and now I'm sitting on the balcony of the apartment, typing this up before bedtime. Have I mentioned before how much I love warm evenings?

I have two more days here. Tomorrow will be fairly low-key during the day -- we'll see a crypt and the Spanish steps, then spend the afternoon relaxing before heading to the northern part of the city for a new dinner venue that M wants to check out. Then Wednesday is Pompeii, where A and I expect to spend all day. I fly home Thursday at noon, by which time I'm sure I'll be both ready to go and never wanting to leave.

I am here! Got in yesterday afternoon, actually, completely zonked from no sleep on the plane, but my friends kept me up late enough for dinner and gelato, and I crashed around 10:30. Slept, with a couple of wakings, for almost 12 hours, so I think the worst of the jet lag is done, once there's enough hot water for a shower.

The apartment where we're staying is nice, very classic: marble floors, books and knickknacks and artwork everywhere. It belongs to the aunt of my friend M, who is here working for a month. It's in a residential neighborhood, north of the Villa Borghese -- and this church is just up the street, which is one of the things I love about Rome: the continual reminders of just how old the place is. We'll be here all day today, then tomorrow morning we're going up to the family beach house in Sestri Levanti, which promises to be a cute town with lots of shops right on the Mediterranean.

There's been a heatwave, which is supposedly cooling down to the high 80s today. Fortunately, I will rarely complain about high 80s. Off to get ready for the day!

Whenever I go a week without posting, it feels wrong, like somehow I might cease to exist in this corner of the Internet if I don't interact with it often enough. I'm still around, I still comment -- I doubt anyone starts wondering if I have disappeared off the face of the earth. (Especially as it remains obvious to anyone within 50 miles of Tumblr that I have not.)

Anyway, still here. Still working the Saturday work schedule. Vegas was a great time. The highlight of the trip was probably the tour of the Neon Boneyard, which is where many of the city's old signage lives. I posted a selection of my favorite pictures on Tumblr, here. They're opening a full-blown museum later this summer, which I would love to go see. We also saw the Cirque de Soleil show 'O', which was pretty much as amazing as billed, wandered around town, hung out in a very crowded pool, and ate. Good time with good friends. Next up, I am going back to Rome. For a week. Less than two weeks from now. So, so, so excited.

The less said about work, the better, although at least I feel like I've finally adjusted to the new schedule (just in time for me to stop working in for break). The other thing of note that's happened lately is that one of my cats, Tori, has started having unexplained seizures. Not very often -- four that we know of, over the time period of a month -- and the vet can't find anything else wrong with her, so it's probably just some sort of epilepsy. It's scary, but as long as it stays within certain tolerances, it's not likely to cause her any long-term harm, so for now we watch and wait, and maybe if they get more severe we put her on medication. Between times she seems totally fine, to the point where I was hoping that the first couple of attacks were a fluke, but alas, no. Not fun times for kitty. :(

Fandomwise, I got my Doink! story submitted a whole day early, got a great Al-Cid/Ashe/Balthier story as my gift, and have continued to work on my Hawke Alphabet with the hopes of maybe getting it done this month. No other Avengers fic so far, although an Idea continues to brew. Right now my Avengers fannishness seems to be more about meta, and keymashing over how much I love the characters. Which is easy to do on Tumblr, the land of pretty pictures and quick-fire meta conversations. My Dragon Age replay is approaching endgame -- just reached Denerim -- and I should write more about that, because it's been a really interesting experience.

So that's things by me. How are all of you, out there in Journal-land?

Let's catch up on the last couple of weeks, shall we?

1. Work: Things have changed pretty drastically recently and I'm scrambling to keep up. The upshot of it is that I have fewer people to get more things done -- isn't that always the way? -- so I expect my life to be a bit more constrained for awhile. For one thing, I'm moving to a Tuesday - Saturday schedule for awhile, starting this week, probably at least through August. I'll probably also have longer hours in general, and my time while at work will be more constrained. Everything is balanced on a knife-edge, no slack whatsoever, and although I understand a desire to make things more efficient, if you pull too hard on a rope with no slack, it breaks.

So I guess we'll see.

2. Fandom: As planned, I've started a DA:O replay. I went for a Brosca game; her name is Kasia, and I love her to death. Right now we're back in Orzammar, and so far it's everything I could have hoped for. Very different from Aeducan's homecoming, and honestly I think better developed. But more on that when I've played it further. I've been blogging the game over on Tumblr, under the tags KJ Replays DAO and Kasia Brosca, if anyone is interested.

Also, don't forget Doink! signups close tomorrow!! Have a link. I have signed up and am really looking forward to it.

3. In other news: Chorus has started, we're doing Schumann's Mass in C Minor, which is a new piece for me. Very nice so far, although tough in some places. As of yesterday, I am going back to Rome in June, for a week with A and M, which should be extremely awesome, and there's also talk of spending Memorial Day weekend in Las Vegas. Whatever can get me through this ridiculous quarter, I'll take it.

Heading off for the annual holiday visit to San Diego and T's mom in a few minutes. We'll be back on Wednesday. I'm taking both phone and iPad with me, so I'll likely be around some, although probably more on Tumblr and Twitter than here (easier to navigate using the mobile devices).

Safe travels! Enjoy/survive your family visits, as applicable! A happy holiday to anybody celebrating one, and an excellent weekend to one and all! I probably don't say this often enough, but I love you all: old friends, new friends, friends I've just met, and I'm so, so lucky to be a part of this awesome online community.

All my best, happiest thoughts to you and yours.

Even though I've been to New York City many times (I tried to sit down and count the other day, and found that I could not), I still discover new things every time I go. Such as:

* Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset.
* The view of lower Manhattan from Brooklyn and Liberty Island.
* My unironic patriotic love for the Statue of Liberty. On the other hand, my feelings about the 9/11 memorials around the World Trade Center are much more mixed.
* Sitting on a rock in Central Park and watching the world go by.
* Bryant Park. Especially the Bryant Park Reading Room.
* The view from the top of Rockefeller Center (aka "Top of the Rock").
* Craft. Not a cheap experience (to put it mildly), but an easy pick for one of my top five meals ever.
* The High Line at night.
* Visiting in the summer. I keep going to New York in the winter for some reason. Summer is so much better. (Especially when you get lucky with the weather and there's never a high above 86 degrees, and it doesn't rain at all.)

More stories and pictures to come, especially pictures once T gets his processed. He has some beauties...