Back from California

Here's one of the last pictures I took as I flew back from California. After the bonfire Christmas Eve, we headed back into Timmy's apartment. The next morning, we opened our Christmas presents. Cosmo and Wanda had to fly back that afternoon, but Clark, Diana, Gwen, and I had one more day. During our layover in Minneapolis, I tried fried macaroni and cheese at TGI Friday's at the airport. It was different, but pretty good. I finally got back in town around midnight on Thursday morning. I only got about 3 and 1/2 hours sleep before I got up for work on Thursday....

This past weekend has been a busy one for me. Friday night, I started watching my DVD copy of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. I did some ironing. On Saturday, I did a bunch of laundry and jotted down ideas for Diana's website. I managed to squeeze in some reading and a trip to the bank. Today, I had to do some grocery shopping and buy a late Christmas gift for Harry. I had to write a few checks and thank-you notes this weekend as well. Tomorrow, I hope to get a thank-you note written for Harry and Liz after I get back from work.

Great Time in California.

I am having a great time in California with Cosmo, Wanda, Clark, Diana, Timmy, Trixie, and Gwen. Clark and I have been sleeping on separate arms of Timmy's L-shaped couch. I have been hitting the softball at a few places with Cosmo, Timmy, Diana, and Gwen (though Diana has abstained from hitting the ball, opting to be a catcher instead). Yesterday, I saw a hot, well-endowed blonde woman in a red dress a few times at the church Timmy and Trixie attend. I'm definitely in southern California. Also yesterday, Clark, Diana, Trixie, and I went to see Charlie Wilson's War while Cosmo, Wanda, and Gwen were out meeting Gwen's former roommate.

Other stuff: I've had ice cream from Baskin Robbins and Cold Stone (not on the same day). I think I prefer the latter location, though the price is a bit higher than I would like. I have been to the pier near Timmy's a few times and taken some cool pictures. We have spent a lot of time walking around the neighborhood the past few days. I bought a T-shirt for a mere $8 over the weekend. We had our holiday dinner for lunch today since Cosmo and Wanda have to fly back tomorrow night. We are planning to do a bonfire at the beach tonight and open Christmas presents tomorrow morning......

Back to the Birthland.

After a 20+ year absence, I have returned to the land of the my birth--California. Diana, Gwen, and I took two planes to get here, but we arrived around 5:30pm Pacific Time. Presently, we are visiting with Timmy and Trixie. Cosmo, Wanda, and Clark are with us as well. Trixie isn't feeling as well as she would like, so we'll be staying at a motel with Cosmo, Wanda, and Clark for a couple of days.

I have missed this place. The last time I was here, I was on a road trip with Cosmo, Wanda, and company. I vaguely remember visiting Disneyland and spending some time at the beach. I hope to take lots of pictures (I brought my digital camera) and post at least one of them in the next few weeks....

Legend-ary weekend.

This was a pretty good weekend. I have been watching my DVD of The Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers. I visited some of Cosmo's relatives on Saturday and was on a team with Wanda that won five straight games of "Sequence." Saturday night, I got together with Harry and Liz and saw I am Legend (hence the title of this entry). I sent several e-cards today to friends and relatives. I have also been getting my stuff ready for my Christmas vacation in the land of my birth--California......

A good weekend.

It was a good weekend. I got together with Harry and Liz on Saturday. We spent some time at some relatives of Liz's, and I was impressed with their salt water aquarium. They had some interesting shrimp and some colorful salt water hermit crabs. Later, we saw The Golden Compass movie. The scenery and fight scenes in the movie were amazing. We had dinner afterwards at the local Chili's.

I understood why some people felt The Golden Compass movie was a subtle stab at the church (or at least the Catholic Church): the mysterious Magisterium (not sure I spelled that right) did had a church-like base of operations and wore outfits similar to robes you would expect Catholic priests to wear. Certainly, their use of the word "heresy" invoked thoughts of the Crusades.

Other stuff: Friday night, I watched about half of Bewitched (the Kidmann movie). I did some ironing and read the rest of one of my "Star Trek: the Next Generation" books. Saturday night, I taped most of an episode of "Chuck." I tested out a wireless controller I got from Harry a week ago for my PS2 today. I also watched an hour of The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring today.

The weekend.

It was a pretty average weekend. I did a lot of reading. I ironed some shirts and watched TV. I went over to Harry's on Saturday and watched Shooter (the movie I got him for his birthday) with him.

Harry and I played more of "Dark Kingdom" and made it out of the caves, through the library, and into the sewers. My mage character (Gandolf) got some new gear and some added skills: a freezing attack and a gravity-altering attack, both of which don't require me to aim at a specific villain like my fireball attack. Harry's warrior character (Maximus) got some new gear and acquired a cool attack that creates a small black hole and pulls all the bad guys into it so you can pound on them.

Tonight, I'm getting together with Harry and Liz to watch the first part of "Tin Man," a miniseries with a modern take on the classic Wizard of Oz. I have read some stuff about it in the newspaper, and I think it should be interesting to see......