Hope you have a great day <3

I woke up on Friday around 4pm, Ken was already gone to 151 to work on some issues. He and Nick stopped by to pick me up to go to Mongolian for dinner around 8:30pm. Then we all went back to 151 and I played Sims 2 while they tried to figure out the problem all night. At 3pm we took a break and drove around the city and stopped for snacks. We drove by 3 Roger’s Wireless stores, one near the Eaton Center had a line of about 20 people. One at Davisville & Yonge had no line and the one we wanted to go to at Eglinton & Leaside had no line as well. So we got our snacks and went back to 151 till 6:30am.

Back at the Eglinton & Leaside store there was a line of 2 people. Not too bad! It was raining off and on, and 2 people got out of their car and got back in front of the line just after we got there. The guys who were in front of us said they were really the first people. But that was ok. Then the line started to fill in behind us, and the manager of the store arrived and told us that he had 7 16gb phones, 4 in black, 3 in white but that he had plenty of the 8gb phones. By then another guy had gotten out of his car and joined the 3rd guy. They all wanted the black 16gb phone, #5 (the doctor) wasn’t sure if he wanted the white one or not. But Ken said he would take it. So that left 1, maybe 2 more for the people behind us. Right away several people behind us left the line.

We met some great people while stuck there. We were in line at 7am, there were 4 people in front of us and the store didn’t open till 8:30am, so we all chatted about what plans we were gonna get, what news we heard about how many they would have. Once they opened, they let in 8 people who were purchasing iPhones, that was the 4 in front of us, plus some guy who had been waiting in his car who was with the 3rd guy, so that was 5 iPhones, then Ken. At the time we went in, I was going to try to get my phone from Fido because I have a Fido cell phone now and I have 290 “Fido Dollars” so the iPhone would have been free. So Ken was #6, and the lady behind us, Oedile was #7 and Simon, behind her #8.

The first two people were a couple, they had a small pug dog with them too. Turned out that the girl wasn’t eligible because you could only use an upgrade if it’d been a year since your last phone or get a new account. So she left pissed off. But it freed up another 16gb phone so we started talking about who would get it. Simon wanted it but he wasn’t sure if he was eligible for the upgrade or not and they couldn’t check

After about 2 hours, they had finally gotten the first guy at least paid for, and he could have left and come back later once the activation was working again but he stuck around and after another hour it came up briefly and he was able to leave with his phone but he still had to actually unlock it once he got home and he wouldn’t have been able to because the site went back down again. At least he didn’t need to go back to the store and he had a physical phone in his hand to play with. We took a picture with the display iPhone of the first activation to make it out of the door The iPhone really takes nice pictuers, so we asked the manager to send it to us.

The 3rd guy had the same deal. The guy who was with him (who had been sitting in his car the whole time we were lined up outside) was stuck at the trying to pay part so he stuck around awhile but #5 was a doctor so he had to bail and leave before getting anything. We all felt bad for him, but it’s not like the iPhone is going away. If he comes back next week they’ll have more 16gb phones and he probably won’t have to wait for hours like we did.

So that freed up another 16gb phone, so we decided that instead of repeating the process at a Fido store for me, and possibly having to wait another week or two for the 16gb phone (I’d actually put my music on it) that I’d take it here and we’d just have to lose the Fido Dollars. So I took the #9 spot after Simon.

It was like 11am by then and everyone was getting really antsy, the people outside were complaining that it was getting hot, and we were just tired because we’d been at 151 all night. So Nick and I went on a coffee and donut run. The poor staff hadn’t been able to take a break or eat or anything. So we bought them coffee and shared donuts with them.

We kept checking the apple websites and different tech blogs from the iPhone demo display To see if there was any news about what was going on. Europe had their release day 8 hours before us and they had no real issues other than they ran out. Which is to be expected. By noon, the people in PST were just jumping in trying to get theirs so there was no chance that the issues would clear up. At noon, the site came up briefly enough for the manager to at least check on Oedile & Simon’s eligibility for upgrades. Oedile was eligible but Simon was not. So he left, and the manager let 3 more people in.

The #4 guy, David, had to leave because he was going away for the weekend, but he’d already paid so they would just keep it aside for him till he came back.

So with Simon gone, there was 1 more 16gb iPhone available, but it was white. The #10 guy didn’t want it, #11 said he might take it, but he ended up not taking it. #12 guy was actually like #20 because the line outside kept shifting, people kept leaving. So he took the last 16gb phone by the end of the day. He was very very happy and I said he should buy a lottery ticket. He said it was actually for his wife though.

Manager Dan got an email from the head of the company saying that he could have people sign the contracts and set aside the phones they wanted and call them back when the system came back online. So that’s what we did and we finally left at 2pm. Drove Nick to his car at his condo and passed out at home as soon as we got there. Hopefully the system will be fixed tomorrow and we will get a call from Manager Dan but at least we have one set aside for us.

**Update** Today, July 12th, 2008, Saturday. Ken and I went to a bead store grand opening at 9am then got to the Roger’s store at 10am. They opened but the manager’s car had been swiped by another car in his parking lot so he had to stick around and take pictures and stuff so he was running late. Raquel and Ti couldn’t open the stock room that had all the iPhones with the already signed contracts so we had to wait. 2 people were already there when we arrived, one of them was #11 from Friday. So they started to process them, but it took almost 2 hours. Meanwhile, #10 showed up again too. We eventually walked out of the store by 12:30 with both of our iPhones. Ken’s is black 16gb and mine is white 16gb. We drove over to Best Buy to see if they had any cases. They had 4 but nothing spectacular. So we went to FutureShop, they had none at all. So we came home, did the registration on iTunes and starting looking through the App Store. I grabbed the Facebook App, AIM App… Then synched up my contacts and email and such and we drove over to Yorkdale Mall to check what cases the Apple Store had. They only had 4 cases as well but different ones. I picked up a clear clam shell case and Ken picked up a leather “sock” type case with a ratcheting clip. His came with a lot of other pieces like a screen cloth and arm band but he ended up not liking his case at all. The face cover kept sticking to the screen and making strange bubbles. Nick described it as “badly applied window tinting”. I did use the clear plastic faceplate sticker on mine since my case didn’t have any kind of cover.

We’ve been playing with them ever since. I’ve spent a good long time creating my mac address book so I can sync it up because I never used it. I also couldn’t import my old SIM card contacts onto the new SIM card so I had to manually enter in all the phone numbers I had stored. Then I added contact pictures for the Call Display feature. Now I think I’m going to nap, since I was up really early this morning.

I ordered some components from Fire Mountain Gems and it arrived on Monday but the delivery person just left a notice on our door even though Ken and I were both home and Ken was awake playing MGS2. The pick-up place was closed on Tuesday for Canada Day and we didn’t get a chance to go yesterday. I finally got my bead stuffs today so I wanted to finish off the 2 herringbone bracelets I made awhile ago and was waiting for clasps.

It seems most of the bead stores I go to here don’t want to carry the longer width clasps. While I was picking which one to start with I realized that I needed to make one of them a bit longer but I’d already finished off the pattern. So I decided to cut it apart and remake it.. About halfway through destroying it I realized that I didn’t need to take the whole thing apart, just a few rows of the end.. It was 5 inches long, I needed it to be 6 inches, I destroyed it to about 2 3/4’s inches and now have remade it back to 3 1/2 inches. /le sigh

p.s. I updated my thoughts on the stories in Everything’s Eventual. Check the books section or Bridge of Birds post.

New song stuck..

“I’m Yours” Official Video

My brother, his wife and their 2 kids were just here visiting with me. We had such a great time! It was their first real time in Toronto (or Canada for that matter) though they were all here for my wedding reception in 2006. That was just a weekend though and they didn’t get to see much of the city.

June 24th - Tuesday
They spent all day in Niagara Falls and didn’t arrive till after 7pm. We went to Memories of Japan for a tappanyaki dinner. The kids seemed to really like the food and the chef did some egg juggling and an onion volcano! My brother and his wife went out to check out a bar nearby, Scruffy Murphy’s. The kids stayed the night with us and we played Rock Band all night.

June 25th - Wednesday
Took the kids to our indoor pool to swim for a little bit but we were all hungry and the building was having water issues AGAIN. We went to Licks for lunch then took the subway to Union Station and walked down Front Street to the CN Tower. We purchased tickets through Airmiles so we had the full package and express elevator. They seemed to think it was cool. Especially the glass floor!

We found the skyway back to Union Station and met up with Ken to go to dinner at Pappas Grill on the Danforth. Isabel had a minor melt-down before dinner but DJ took her outside for awhile and she was fine after. We had a noisy bunch of teachers having their end of the year party at a table next to us. They were quite rowdy but it was funny to watch. After dinner we drove around the city a bit and Ken gave a mini-tour. Then back at our apartment we played some more Rock Band and Daemon played some Assassin’s Creed. Isabel didn’t have an extra pull-up with her so she went back to the hotel with DJ & Missy.

June 26th - Thursday
We woke up late, my brother had been trying to call but he had been using my cell phone number and I didn’t hear it. I drove Daemon over to pick them up so he could get changed. Then because of the time we just went to the Science Center, had lunch in their cafeteria and spent a good 3 hours looking at all the stuff and chasing after the kids. They especially loved the Science Arcade, the Giant Mouse Trap (like the game) and Isabel had to be dragged away from the Kid Spark area which had a stage set up with working lights and songs. Then at 5pm we saw Roving Mars in the Omnimax Theater. So cool! Everyone had a great time, though I think my sister-in-law had the best time there :p

Then we picked up Ken again for dinner and went to Pier 4. The kids didn’t really seem that interested in all the naval decorations but it was such a pretty view on the water and they loved the food. My brother & his wife shared a huge seafood platter for 2 that had everything you could want, if you like seafood that is!

June 27th - Friday
Picked everyone up at the hotel and we met Ken’s sister at the Pickle Barrel for lunch. Afterwards we took the kids to the Toys R Us store to browse. Managed to make it out without buying a THING! Then we hopped on the subway again, this time to Museum station and went to… wait for it.. the MUSEUM (Royal Ontario Museum)! They had a great Dinosaur exhibition going on. Pretty cool actually. Then they had a bunch of art and artifacts from different regions, China, Korea with some gorgeous mother of pearl inlaid furniture which is my favorite, Europe: Themes and collections with suits of armor and such, Europe: History of Style with displays of Victorian & other outfits and home decor, Africa, the Americas & Asias Pacific, Middle East & South Asia, Africa: Egypt which was the coolest of course!, Cyprus, The Bronze Age Aegean, & Greece which had the best jewlery display next to Egypt. We spent a long long 6 hours there, but only had one Isabel melt-down.

Ken picked us up after, and we drove to the Mandarin chinese buffet near our apartment. They are huge fans of chinese buffets so everyone loved it. Lots of variety there. We were all extremely stuffed! My friend came over after dinner and my brother entertained us all with stories and videos from Iraq. Then he and his wife went back out to the bar for their last night together. Daemon played more Assassin’s Creed. Isabel had a short melt-down when she couldn’t watch Meet the Spartans because we have it on Blu-Ray and that can only be played on the PS3 which Daemon was using. After some threats and some alone time in a bubble bath she calmed down and we watched her movie later.

I miss them already and I hope they can come back again this summer but I doubt my brother will be able to join them for awhile. My sister-in-law and the kids are staying witih my mom and younger brother in Virginia for awhile and my older brother will be in Florida doing some training.

I went to see an RMT (registered massage therapist) today about the neck pain I’ve had for the last month. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking.

Sooo much owwie!! If you remember from my San Francisco post, the thumb print bruises left by Thori, this was twice as bad and ALL OVER! Every joint was screeeeeching pain.. I can take a lot of pain, I just go to my happy place, but he made me say owwwww more than a few times and clutch and claw at the bed. The pressure in my neck is gone, but I don’t know if the pain is just hiding under the bruises or not.

So first he shook me around by my hips then he tortured my back and the little knobbies at the bottom of my spine.. God those killed. Every joint he poked killed.. but those felt like he was stabbing me with a hot poker. That’s when I knew it was going to be a very very long hour.

Next, my legs.. Back of knee on left leg and Achilles tendon on right leg were the worst offenders but then he tickled my toes.

Turned over, he worked on my neck some more.. shoulder owwies.. then did some kind of voodoo head scratching that felt really nice. Then he went back to my legs and did some more work on my thighs, then some range of motion testing. Turns out my left leg is severely worse than my right in how far it can bend and stretch. :/ While he was working on my left leg, it was causing a severe cramp in my right hip.. very strange!

I’m really sore now, but as long as I don’t touch my shoulders, back or arms, I’m ok.

Overall he said that my neck is ok, just that my joints aren’t getting enough circulation and that’s why they ALL KILLED. More exercise, more stretches, more massages..

I think I should go to a reflexologist next for my poor heel issues. He was concentrating on my neck, as I asked him to do, so didn’t get much time for heel.

So here’s what Thori said about the whole thing, made a lot of sense so I reposted it here with her permission.

*cuddles* Are you feeling better? Can you move yet?

Is very good he did range of motion with the massage (Deep tissue = Owie but goooood, if a day or a week later when the body stops screaming at you). Run if anybody mentions rolfing massage at this point *hehe* I have a gift certificate to a Thai massage that does all that and I’m ..saving it for a day where I don’t have the work the following week cuz my body’s messed up too.

*nodnod* @ joints, that’s where I left your bruises Btw, I showed Wrennie the piccys and she laughed her ass off ..because y’know, she does jewelry and knitty so she has the same areas as you do

..when are you going back to him? He sounds funny AND good

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awwwwwh! *snuggles some more*

Spa massages should not leave bruises (hot stone, aromatherapy, etc) and relaxes the muscles with more light to medium strokes than deep/digging into muscles. Deep tissue massages are shorter term, like 5 to 10 min straight for one area of pain and it’s ment to break down scar tissue so your body can grow new, more flexible, tissue.

The fact that he was testing your physical limits (range of motion) and adding stretching with the massage means (to me, at least) he’s on the more serious side @ medical/sports injury/gym type of guy and *hehe* I do think you need a bit of that because you spend time hunched over the ‘puter or making SHINEYS! for years and you get weird muscle twitchies and numbness.

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Some people bruise more easier than others so that’s a good indication of too much pressure but not absolute. IMO, if you can handle the pain during and soreness after (not more than 2 days, borderline 4 days) and y’know .. you like it then it’s ok. You MUST feel less stiffness/pain symptoms (after the soreness) afterwards tho and feel good for 2 weeks to a month. Then *nodnod* you go in again when things are stiff/pain.

Would say three-ish weeks for a couple of months for deep tissue, less after things clear up. You need a week to recover from pressure and another week or two for your muscles to heal back up.

You should tell him whenever it hurts past two days and you need to tell him when there’s too much pressure during. Unfortunately, for people with high pain tolerance (*clings* come get a tattoo with me ) it sort of takes a while to know which part of the “sharp burning hot pain” is too much.

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*hehe* You’re welcome to @ post but y’know .. usual disclaimer(s) that it’s only my personal opinion since I’m neither a massage therapist or licensed in Canada and I wasn’t there and don’t know what’s going on in your body or his mind

My favorite example (if not exactly accurate of what goes on) is having a cut on your skin and the blood clots combine with the now dead tissue (at the edges of the cut) merge to form a scab (body fluid band aid @ body uses what it’s got) to seal off the area from more damage (infection and more blood loss). Underneath the scab, new tissue takes a week or so to to reform and eventually the old tissue/blood ban aid falls off.

Sometimes there’s a scar because the new tissue isn’t the same (for whatever reasons) as the old/surrounding type, it’s a little harder. Think stretch marks during pregnancy? Then you go to the spa (or my closet) to get scrubs, derma abrasions, lots of lotion/liquids to make that area more flexible. That’s essentially sandpapering the skin cells to slough off the old to make room for the new.

When you injure the muscle (big tramuatic accident or chronic carpal tunnel), the same process happens. Muscle and tendons needs to be more stable because they do all the work instead of lying around, looking pretty and getting a sun tan) so the body lays down stiffer tissue to make sure the injured area doesn’t get pulled too much. It’s that stiffer “safety net” tissue that is scar tissue and makes the muscle all stiff and shrinks it. Overtime (months/years depending) the whole area gets all kinked up because the injured tissue intertwines with other muscles/tendons/bone and pulls the others.

Soooo.. if you have numbness, muscle spasms, tight and tenderness (with pressure) AND pain then you most likely have enough scar tissue in there that needs to be tenderized @ deep tissue massages because that stuff isn’t just going to fall off on it’s own. Once the tissue gets broken down, you get that injured feeling. The therapist is supposed to know what they’re doing, instead of causing unnecessary pain/damage. Then you get that one week recovery period, one to two weeks growing tissue (and the new tissue will be baby tissue/weak) that should be more flexible than the previous bits but is probably still harder than what it should be = rinse and repeat.

But you really, really have to feel better afterwards (even if it only lasts a couple days but you should feel loose after the sore goes away), the second time (provided it isn’t a year later) massage = less pain/sore AND he has to listen when you say “no” and “ow” *nodnod*

*hangs head @ ANOTHER info dump*
I is talkies.
Candy now?

The sirens could be heard three blocks over. There Kaia sat sobbing in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor clutching the butcher knife not really sure about her surroundings. She knew deep down that she had really messed up and there was possibly no way that she would be able to get out of this. There were police in the room trying to figure out what exactly happened.

At 5′4, 120 lbs Kaia was what most people aren’t dedicated. Dedicated to her family, her job, beliefs, but most of all her man. There was nothing like Adan Smith. To Kaia he was the definition of the perfect man. 6′1″, slim, but well defined, decent job and loves his momma. The relationship was heading in the direction of marriage and she knew it.
“Ms. Tranoble you are going to have to let go of the knife and come with me.” Officer Bradley was trying her best to coax Kaia without causing any further damage.

“It wasn’t always like this.” At this point she dropped the knife and was lead away by Officer Bradley.

She stared out the window as she and Officer Bradley drove through the city. The same city that she not even one hour ago was just enjoying herself in. Already knowing that things change fast actually seeing how quick things changed had sent her into shock.

“It just wasn’t always like this.” The only thing that she seemed to be able to say.

“Wasn’t always like what, Kaia?” Although Officer Bradley spoke Kaia didn’t answer. “What happened back there? You know this is some mess you have gotten yourself into…”

As the officer spoke Kaia’s mind began to think back to when things were normal for her. It has only been the past year that things have begun to spin out of control. The control she has always tried so hard to maintain she seemed to watch it gradually slip out of her hands.

Kaia and Adan had known each other for years. The last year of their relationship had become the opposite of everything she knew from him. He became aggressive and abusive in every way imaginable. It was small things at first, his temper flaring when she spoke something he did not want to hear and popping up at her job in the middle of the day starting arguements. She could not figure out exactly what was wrong with him and what she was doing which she knew was nothing.

The day had finally come two months ago when he asked her to marry him. Despite the strange behavior and the treatment she had been getting she more than happily said yes. So it was set in two and a half months they were going to be married and she would become Mrs. Adan Smith. Nothing could take the high she was now on.

Together they planned a wedding that was for their closest friends and family and a honeymoon in Europe that would last for ten days. Everything in the wedding was agreed on together except for the dress. The dress that hung in the foyer closet still waiting to be unwrapped. The dress that was for the wedding on Saturday that now has turned into funeral plans.

The lights in the city blurred her vision through the tears. There was nothing to undue the pain she has caused. Nothing any one could do to take the hurt that has caused the death of her once beloved Adan.

“It would make things a lot easier if you would speak about what happened in your home tonight Ms. Tranoble. We have 15 more minutes of a car ride if you want to speak.” Officer Bradley was still talking and Kaia was to lost in thought to respond. She looked down at her blood stained clothes and began to wonder what exactly went wrong.

Kaia had been out all morning trying to get the last set of goals accomplished before the wedding. She still had to see the caterer and the florist, but that was going to have to wait until tomorrow. The sun was going down and although she had no immediate plans to return home until later she was tired and wanted to rest. She could finish up tomorrow.

She pulled into her parking spot and sat in the car for a moment going through her blackberry checking the things she had got accomplished today and seeing all what she had to do for tomorrow somewhat hoping for a light day. She gathered her belongings and began to proceed into the house. Adan was already home.

She walked in, dropped her purse on the coffee table in the front room and proceeded to the kitchen. Pouring herself some water she stopped because Kaia thought she heard a talking in the bathroom. Adan comes out of the bathroom, zipping up his pants and talking on the phone. Kaia smiled and began to drink her water. All of a sudden her teeth clanked with the glass, her head hit the cupboard and she immediatly dropped her glass.

The arguing started and she did not even understand why.

“We’re supossed to be getting married in two days and you want to run around like some tramp!” His face was distorted with anger. “I’m not going to marry some slut!”

He did not know it, but his words hurt her and stung like salt in an open wound. The pain in her eyes he could not have seen because he proceeded to call her everything he could think of, but a child of God. All the thoughts of everything she had been going through with him for the past 4 months was beginning to take it’s toll on her. He slapped her, choked her and shoved her around. They screamed and she cried.

“I can’t take this any more and you don’t have to worry about marrying me or what I’m doing any more because I want you out!” With those words she threw the half carat diamond ring at him and began to walk back into the kitchen. “You need to start packing your stuff and leave before I call the police and have you escorted away.”

“You think that it’s that easy? You think that you can just stand there and say that you don’t want to be with me any more and that’s just going to be the end of it? That you’re going to throw away a relationship because you don’t know how to act?!” Adan pushed her into the counter.

That was it, she spun around knife in hand and allows the cool blade to sink into abdomen stepping closer to him pushing it deeper inside. She began to cry. Her emotions running at top speed racing through all of them at once, hurt, anger and frustration. She was tired of being pushed around by someone who claimed that they loved her so much. A man who said he was devoted to her and only her stood there looking more shocked than hurt.

“You just don’t get the point do you?” She rammed the knife into his side. “Someone who claims that they love someone so much has become such a monster and feels that it’s his right to talk to someone any kind of way?” She began to slide the knife out and pull it to the side making what looked like the start of a smile across his stomach.

“Can’t move can you?” The blood began to flow steady from the incision that she was making. “Don’t ever stop to think that I have feelings too? where are you getting this shit that you are coming to me from? Are you producing little tete-a-tete’s in your head with me and some man that makes you look like the devil’s advocate?”

Kaia pulled the knife out and Adan fell to the floor. “You crazy stupid bitch! You’re ass better be in a running mood because I’m going to do to you what you couldn’t do to me.” He was beginning to get up from the floor balancing on the counter to keep from slipping in the blood. He had lost a substantial amount of blood and the color was beginning to drain from his face. When he regained his balance he was trying to get Kaia. She found the knife in his chest before she knew it. He released the counter and went to the floor.

Kaia let out a scream that even she thought came from somewhere else. She pulled the knife out of his chest and stood there watching him bleed. Paralyzed with fear she could not move. Someone should be calling 911 a voice kept saying in her head. She still doesn’t know who did.

Can’t get this out of my head..

Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love

I’ve just finished reading Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart

This book was hilarious and I highly recommend it! The story is well written, entertaining, full of twists and snappy conversation and the characters are memorable.

I’ve lent it out to Ken’s cousin to read. If you wanna give it a try, just let me know! I’m sure Thori won’t mind it coming back to her well read

I am currently reading: Everything’s Eventual: 14 Dark Tales by Stephen King

Tales:
01. Autopsy Room Four - This story was written in 1997 but all I could think of was the plot for the movie Awake even though I’ve never seen it. Still the end was pretty funny.

02. The Man in the Black Suit - “King described the piece as an homage to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story “Young Goodman Brown”. He also states that the story evolved from one his friend told him, in which the friend’s grandfather had come face to face with Satan himself in the form of an ordinary man.” — Wikipedia

This was a creepy story, very detailed, I could see the fish, smell the creek and the sulfur of the man.

03. All That you Love will be Carried Away So very very strange.. I liked it, it felt very real. So many strange thoughts.

04. The Death of Jack Hamilton - “The story is written in the first-person. Homer Van Meter, a member of John Dillinger’s gang, tells of the slow, painful death of fellow gangmember Jack Hamilton. Van Meter begins by describing Dillinger’s death outside the Biograph Theater at the hands of Melvin Purvis’s men.” — Wikipedia

I didn’t care too much about this one, it was well written and certainly not boring, but not very interesting personally.

05. In the Deathroom - “Fletcher, an ex-reporter from the New York Times, has been captured by members of a South American government. The story begins as he is brought into the titular “deathroom” as he realizes that his captors, after interrogating him about a Communist insurgency he has been supporting, due to the government’s killing of a group of nuns which included his sister, will not let him leave this room alive, despite their claims that he will be set free.” — Wikipedia

This story was pretty cool. A nice twist on the torture scene. The ending was smooth.

06. The Little Sisters of Eluria - “The tale features Roland of Gilead, whose quest for the Dark Tower is in its infancy; its events precede those of the body of the Dark Tower cycle, but occur after Roland’s experiences in Mejis as chronicled in Wizard and Glass. At the time of telling he is accompanied by a horse and is already following Walter o’Dim, the Man in Black. He plans to eventually buy another horse, or perhaps a mule; which ties in with the events at the beginning of The Gunslinger.” — Wikipedia

The reason I bought this book was to read this story which ties in to the Dark Tower Series. I was not disappointed! It’s the best story so far and I’ll grab any piece of midworld that I can get.

07. Everything’s Eventual - I liked this story too. I wish it had been a bit longer and explained his power.

08. L.T.’s Theory of Pets - “Except getting mad at Lulu never did any good. Most times, if you had the king, she had the ace. If you had the ace, she had a trump. Also, the woman would fucking escalate. If something happened and I got irritated, she’d get pissed. If I got pissed, she’d get mad. If I got mad, she’d go fucking Red Alert Defcon I and empty the missile silos. I’m talking scorched fucking earth. Mostly it wasn’t worth it. Except almost every time we’d get into a fight, I’d forget that.”

Very good story, I loved this paragraph especially! Still I wish I knew more.

09. The Road Virus Heads North - Felt very short but right to the point I guess. No beating around the bush, no real history.

10. Lunch at the Gotham Cafe - “Before entering the Cafe, Steve impulsively buys an umbrella. Upon entering, he finds that the maître d’, eventually revealed to be named Guy, is talking senselessly about a dog.” –Wikipedia

A nicely laid triangle of crazy! It was all earthly crazy too, which is different from the other stories so far.

11. That Feeling, You can Only say what it is in French - I really dislike “groundhog day” type stories. They frustrate me for some reason and I don’t like it. This was bearable though, because you don’t know right away that it’s a groundhog day situation, and it’s a short enough story that it ends before it repeats too many times. It was more like a groundhog day going down a sink drain.

12. 1408 - I never saw the movie, I didn’t think I’d like it and I still don’t have a scary movie buddy. I was quite surprised when I really really felt creepy while reading it. For a short story it had the big and complete feeling of a full-grown novel.

13. Riding The Bullet - This was a very good creepy story. So vivid even I could see the smoke.

14. Lucky Quarter - Kinda out of place for the last story. I would have rather read Riding the Bullet last.

So finally I’m going to write about my trips to San Francisco (April 25-30), Vancouver (May 2-7), Georgia (May 8-16) and Virginia (May 17-20). We took over 2,000 pictures, I’ll try to keep it all straight.

Friday 25th - Waiting to Breakfast
After a long flight I arrived at the airport and checked my cell phone for a message from Ken who was flying from Chicago. His flight was delayed and I had several messages from him and our friend in SF, Thori about his status. I was starving so I went to the only open restaurant in the airport, Subway. Ken arrived a few hours later and we went to go pick up our rental car.

I don’t know what the deal is with rental companies. We reserved a car with Hertz, but it turned out that they didn’t have any of the cars we were looking for. Same thing that happened when I rented a car last August in Georgia and ended up driving a 2-seat Crossfire. We finally, grudgingly, settled on a Grand Prix. This being my first time in San Francisco, hell on the West Coast at all, I didn’t know how well I’d do with a big boat of a car. Ken would never have been able to drive it, the drivers seat was weird and even I was touching the roof.. I’m 5′3″.

We finally arrived at our hotel, The Argonaut, somewhere around 4am. Ken was starving so we asked the desk clerk if there was a 24-hour place anywhere nearby. He said there was a Denny’s just 3 blocks down the street. After walking around for quite awhile and asking 3 separate people for directions, we finally googled it on Ken’s blackberry and found it. We were exhausted so we stumbled back to our room and passed out.

Saturday 26th - Cheesy Crafts!
We woke up around noon and took a trolley down to the Ferry Building and walked around looking at all the awesome stores and then had lunch at the Hog Island Oyster Bar. Ken had crab and I had a gourmet grilled cheese! So awesome! Afterwards we walked around a craft market across the street where I found a really nice lady, Leah Mazor, who makes fused glass pendants. I made a “thank-you” necklace for Thori (Niobe’s Tears) with the pendant we purchased from her.

While we were waiting on a trolley back to the hotel we suddenly became surrounded by a bunch of 20-somethings in prom outfits. We kept trying to figure out where they were coming from or where they were possibly going. My guess was a college prom type thing or some kind of weird publicity stunt. Ken kept insisting that he’d run into the same thing the last time he was there and that he thought it was their natural state.

Sunday 27th - Sunburned Garlic
We got up later than we wanted to, and hopped on the big bus tour. We had a great tour guide, lots of personality and stories. Ken managed to get a nasty sunburn though. It was gorgeous out. Highlights were: A ship mast inside a building : Yerba Buena Gardens : Civic Center Plaza

After the bus tour we met up with our friend, Thori and her husband at the Kintetsu Mall (Inside photo) (outside photo) in Japantown. The Bookstore & The Candy Store

Next we went to the Metreon, sadly the Playstation store was closed for training or something but we browsed the Sony store. Seriously? a Vending Machine?

For dinner we went to the Stinking Rose restaurant (front sign) (plaque photo), where we had Bagna Calda (garlic cloves, oven-roasted in extra virgin olive oil and butter with a hint of anchovy), Garlic Hummus Cocktail (with toy box tomatoes and garlic crostini), and the best thing of the whole trip GARLIC ICE CREAM!

Monday 28th - Beaded Unicorns
Monday morning, Thori met us at the hotel and we dropped Ken off in Sausalito for work while she and I went to take a bead class at Baubles & Beads. It was a good basic class and I learned a few things about my supplies. We made these matching Twinsies bracelets

I took some pictures in Sausalito while we were waiting to pick up Ken, here’s the Peach Compound, my future home, and the view of San Francisco. Then we drove around Golden Gate park. We saw an artist drawing this magnificent Maple Tree from his van and saw this waterfall. Then we parked at the (not a bridge) Golden Gate Bridge. Check out this piece!

From there we drove to the Cliff House (AKA King Haggard’s Castle). Welcome to the Pacific Ocean, it was so cold and windy but I think I’m in <3!

We ended by having dinner at Sushi Ran where the waiter mocked Thori all night for not wanting the chocolate bomb they're famous for. He brought her a plain banana on a plate, kept saying things like "so you want a chocolate bomb, got it." and "I don't think the chefs know how to make anything else, sorry". It was funny

Tuesday 29th - Unicorn Waves
Thori showed up bright and early and we took Ken to work again. She and I then dropped the Grand Prix off at the hotel and walked around Ghirardelli Square then took a bus to the Asian Art Museum. Highlights were: SF made out of Pots & Pans : Table Screen with Immortals in a Landscape : White-Robed Water Moon Avalokiteshvara : The Buddhist Diety Guhyasamaja embracing the goddess Sparshavajra : Palanquin Fittings : Portrait of Maharani Jind Kaur. To end the perfect day at the museum with these back at Ghirardelli Square.

We picked Ken up from work and took him back to the Metreon where the Playstation Store was open and he was in heaven. Then had dinner at the Cliff House restaurant. A little too fancy for me but the view was fantastic. I watched for Unicorns all night!

Wednesday 30th - Going Home
At the airport going home, I had Ken snap some pictures of the Thori thumb-shaped bruise left on my forearm when she was trying to fix my finger spasms. Good times!!

I’ll write about Vancouver next time! Stay tuned!