The adventure started Saturday, so I suppose that’s a good place to start my ramble. Janalei, Moridin, and Jarihn (it is so hard to call you all by your handles) were all arriving at different times so I thought that our day trip to Great America, the local theme park, was planned for Sunday – I mean, who wants to pay all that money to get in and then only have an hour or two to wander around. Wasn’t I surprised when it turns out Laura (who I’d spent Friday evening with) was right about it being Saturday only. DK’s little brother was in a Chinese festival being held at GA and we were invited to go watch. In addition to my not having had the right date, Jennie had never gotten the email where I said I was going and so she was able to get everyone in for free as a volunteer except me. Grrr. By the time I got to the park, around noon, Jennie and Cindra had already left to pick up the arrivals and only Laura was left to meet me. When I got there I realized I had no idea where to meet Laura and was just starting to look for a pay phone to call her cell when I noticed an Asian woman waving frantically and calling my name. I’m so glad Mrs. Fong recognized me – she knew exactly where Laura was and saved me. Laura’s shift had just ended so the two of us ran off to go on some rides in the 5 hours until everyone else got there. We were in line for Rip Roaring Rapids (a water ride) when Jennie called to let us know they were on their way to the park, so we proceeded to get drenched and then headed back to the booth to wait. We’d just gotten there when Mrs. Fong sent us off to help a friend cart the dinners they’d be selling to the booth, assuring us it would only take five minutes. Half an hour later we returned in triumph to discover that DK, Mori, Jarihn, and Janalei had been waiting for us. Laura and I decided that we had just enough time to drag them (everyone except DK who was still needed as a volunteer) onto one ride – Stealth. We had gone on it earlier for the first time and it was so much fun we knew we had to share. You sit down in the car, then they tilt each one backwards so you’re lying on your back, going headfirst along a track you can’t see. It is so incredibly cool, right up until the very end when they leave you lying on your back in direct sunshine and a slight angle so all the blood is pooling between your ears. But even that is only a minor inconvenience. The nice thing about standing in line with tall people, as Laura, Janalei, and I discovered, is that they make perfect sun-blocks so the setting sun isn’t blinding you. Mori and Jana were trepidatiously willing to go on the ride, but Jarihn hemmed and hawed and dissembled. He was willing to stand in line with us, he just didn’t want to get on the ride when we reached the end. I begged. I pleaded. I cajoled. I commanded. I finally signed a contract stating that he promised to ride Stealth and I promised to feel guilty for making him do so, with the additional clause that he could hold it against me for the entire trip. You’d think he didn’t believe me that the screams drifting down from the tracks above us were screams of pleasure. After the ride we hurried over to the amphitheater where the festival/concert thing was already underway. Fortunately DK’s brother was in the last group to perform so no harm was done. It was fun enough with a guy who juggled plates, people fighting with sticks, a contortionist, and of course dragons. Afterwards Laura took me home and everyone else went back to DK’s place.
On Sunday DK took the three visitors to her cousin’s birthday party at Chucky Cheese while Mikel(Shellie), Velessa, and I played phone tag and arranged to get together at Mikel’s house in San Jose. Mikel had just dropped her parents off at the airport that morning for a two-week vacation, most likely in another country. Taking the fact that there was no one at her house for just about the length of our social we decided to crash at her place instead of mine and DK’s. Mikel has a lovely house, but we never could get her hot tub to work. Another game of phone tag later, the three of us were off to meet the other 4 freaks at a local cineplex where DK’s cousin arranged to get us free tickets through a friend of his, and then helped sneak us into the theatre. I’ve never snuck into a movie theater before – it was actually pretty fun. We saw Rush Hour 2, which was worth the price of admission (I like Jacky Chan, I hate Chris Tucker). Leaving the movie Mikel, Vel, and I went back to Mikel’s house and ordered a pizza while DK’s parents took Jana, Jarihn, and Morio out for Chinese food. Vel, who had just gotten back from her trip to Japan on Saturday showed us pictures from her trip and put in the video she bought of a Japanese musical, Elizabeth about a girl whom Death falls in love with. The lack of subtitles made it a little hard to follow, but like an Opera the music and acting managed to carry the story. I fell asleep right after the intermission and apparently vel stopped the tape not long after that.
On Monday the big event was Tannen’s arrival from Australia. Mikel’s bird greets every day with loud chirps and whistles that fill the house with what I suppose could poetically be called music, but as far as I could tell what it really filled the house with were thoughts of roast fowl for breakfast. Awake and hungry, Mikel and I went grocery shopping, only to discover in the checkout line that neither of us had brought enough money (oops). Fortunately the store was only two blocks from her house so we just ran home and grabbed a credit card. We started the first of the anime Jarihn brought with him, Shamanic Princess, and were waiting for DK to finish her shower when she came tearing down the stairs to the kitchen, screaming that we were late and Tannen was already at the airport (he wasn’t due to arrive for another hour). Talk about kicking over an anthill – we started scrambling to get ready, hopped into two cars and took off. We were looking for a flight on an airline called Quantas so we (shellie’s car) went to the international hub of the airport. It turns out that we’d been called from LAX where Tannen caught a connecting flight, but in order to get through customs he needed DK’s address so someone at LAX called Jennie and never mentioned what airport they were calling from. Jennie was able to figure out that he was coming in on an American flight and that he’d been delayed out of Sydney so it wasn’t for another hour and we all met up again at the correct gate. We ran out the door in a hurry, and hadn’t expected to have to wait, so no one had so much as a deck of cards for entertainment so I bought two at one of the gift shops and we sat around playing Spoon. We’d eliminated Jana, Mori, and Vel, with the rest of us on either SPO or SPOO when Tannen’s flight landed. We were convinced that Tannen wouldn’t have any trouble finding us (the group of 7 college students, playing cards loudly), but DK ran over to the gate, effectively ending our game so the rest of us followed. We spotted Tannen right off the bat, collected his luggage with great difficulty (the airline had told him the wrong carousel and then listed the wrong flight number on the correct carousel) , and retreated back to Mikel’s place where we finished Elizabeth and had just barely put Escaflowne, A Girl in Gaea in when Mikel’s brother Todd arrived. For Tannen’s first meal in the US we went to The Outback, an Australian themed restaurant. On the drive over there, Jana and I were talking and she realized that Rhodric had told her stories about me without bothering to mention my name (apparently the fact that I always call him Wes was the clue she needed to connect some vague Jennifer he’d mentioned to the Jennifer sitting next to her in the car). After dinner Mikel ran me back to my house so I could pack for the camping trip starting the next day while Todd and everyone else went back to their house. I don’t really remember the rest of that night. I think we taught Phase 10 and looked at Vel’s pictures from Japan.
And that introduces the main cast of characters for the rest of our adventures, starting with Camping Without Showers. Stay tuned for the next exciting and redundant account of Our Adventures in Northern California.