Friday morning found me cursing as I drove down the freeways to Kielle's house. In my excitement about this weekend, I'd forgotten that even though I'd taken the day off from work, not everyone else in California did the same. The freeways would be busy all the way to LAX. I even heard news of a traffic accident directly on the freeway that leads into the airport. This was giving me the heebie-jeebies.
The original plan was for just me to pick up Hutch at the airport, but in the midst of our conversation on Thursday, we decided that we'd all go down to get her. Mind you, Laersyn was going to meet us at Kielle's, we had arranged to meet Ashlan later on in the day (according to the e-mail I'd sent yesterday), arranged to meet Dandelion at Disneyland, and then I'd have to get Sparks at her house after school let out and then get Pebbs much later on. David was going to meet us at Kielle's, and then the whole group would be complete. In hindsight, I should have made more definite plans with Ashlan... but I'm getting ahead of myself.
We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. My fears about traffic were unfounded. Kielle and Falstaff rode with me, and along the way, he told us about his "James Proudstar" lines and ideas for the XXY Universe that Alara Rogers is running. We discovered that we all had separately created characters for it, but never got around to fleshing ideas out or (in my case) approaching Alara about them. We also had a lovely discussion about the nature of Subreality muses, why one uses them or why one would not need to use them. However, despite my knowledge of the airport, I parked at the wrong terminal, and we had to schlep our way across the airport parking lot. We found JB, Chandri and Lise in the terminal, got the gate number and made our way through the terminal.
We were about an hour early, so we parked ourselves in a corner of the waiting area on the floor and proceeded to talk about story ideas, the possibility of a Subreality Airlines (Cyclops and Jean in the pilot's chairs, Pete Wisdom as a stewardess: "Frig the safety procedures, jus' show me where the parachutes are") and since JB, Chandri and Kielle are horse lovers, amusing anecdotes about the care and training of horses. One story Kielle told had me just cracking up so much that I couldn't speak for about a minute. When Hutch's plane arrived, we got up and gathered en masse at the gate. Lots of people got off before I spied a red shirt and baseball cap, the clothing that she told me she'd be wearing. Both Kielle and I called out to her, and she made a beeline for us, with Kielle giving her a hug and me snapping her picture. No, this one didn't turn out, either. I hugged her, too, and introduced the rest of the gang. We got her luggage from baggage claim and here's where the trouble started.
As I knew how to get back to Kielle's house it was agreed that I'd take Hutch and Falstaff back while Kielle switched cars and rode back with JB. JB took off first, while I got the car and brought it around (Falstaff still had the bum knee). All the way back to Kielle's, amidst conversation about Star Wars: Episode I, I kept getting pages from first Kielle's house (I guessed that this was Laersyn letting us know he was there), my own pager number, then a number I didn't recognize. I assumed that the other number was Ashlan, paging us from the place we'd agreed to meet (the kennels at Disneyland). We got back to Kielle's around noon and I hurriedly greeted Laersyn before running to the phone. I called back that unfamiliar number and got a pay phone outside the kennels. The guy who answered it was very nice, but he didn't see anyone meeting Ashlan's description waiting. This was bad. Also, since JB left before we did, we expected her to be there before we did. She was not. This was very bad.
After some very harried moments, where we had to jury rig a connection to the internet to access my e-mail (to see if Ashlan'd left a number or told us where she was), and much hair pulling on my account (Laersyn was laughing at me, I swear he was), both JB and Ashlan arrived, not five minutes apart. This will become significant later on. We sighed, we laughed, I put my hair back in, we went out the door towards Disneyland, after letting Pebbs and David know that because we were getting out the door late, dinner was going to be pushed back from six to eight.
This time around, I grabbed Falstaff, Kielle and Hutch and we made our way to the Magic Kingdom. On the way, we started singing Weird Al's "The Saga Begins" much to the un-amusement of Falstaff. We got to the gates, where Ashlan announced that she had passes enough for everyone to get in for free. Yay, Ashlan! We got in, and it was at the front gate when I realized that I'd left my camera in the car; by this time, I was too frazzled to want to get it. Our first stop was the Jungle Cruise ride, where Ashlan and I impressed the boat driver with our knowledge of his whole schpiel. When we got to the point with "Trader Sam", he said, "He'll trade two of his heads..." and looked at me and Ashlan rather significantly, so we yelled out, "For one of yours!" We wandered in the direction of New Orleans Square, leading to speculation of having a Subrealicon at Mardi Gras. I have the distinct feeling that if we did, no one would come back. The lines for the Pirates of the Carribean and The Haunted Mansion were long enough to make me reconsider going, as I had to be at Sparks' house by 3:30 pm and it was almost three. So, I gave Laersyn my pager, and zipped off to get Sparks.
It turns out that Sparks was having a crappy day. Her mom's car broke down, so her dad had to pick her up from school, but he was late. And, she's been trying to quit smoking and has been having "cranky" days. She's down to about a cig or two a day. I applaud her for trying. We jammed to music all the way there, and because she didn't have enough to cover Disneyland, I spotted her for half of her ticket. When we got to the front gate, I told her that City Hall wa the meeting place and then I remembered that yet again, I forgot my camera, so I stayed on the tram and went back to my car. When I finally made it to the front gates, I chatted briefly with some forty-something annual passholders from Riverside, one of whom kissed my hand when we were introducing ourselves. Strange, that.
Sparks was not at the City Hall and the parade had started, so I'd have no luck spotting her easily. I was supposed to page my pager with 123-4567 so they knew that it was me, and the phones were all the way on the other side of Main Street next to the bank. She finally saw me, and we cut our way through the crowd when the parade was over. Hmm? Why don't I mention what the parade was like? Because it's a crappy parade. We paged, used the facilites and waited to meet them. Hutch, Lise and Kielle met us after telling us that they managed to get Dandelion earlier and everyone (except for them) were on Space Mountain. We made our way to Tomorrowland where Falstaff and Laersyn were the advance party. We paused at the Star Trader to get our bearings while Laersyn got the rest of them. Imagine my surprise when Laersyn came back with JB on his back. We snapped what pictures we could, then I asked them to do it again. JB's response to Laersyn: "You ready for me to jump you again?"
As payback, I suppose, they told me that I'd have to go cool off in the fountain. Which I did. I, of course did not get any pictures of this, but pictures were taken nonetheless. We squelched our way through Adventureland to the Pirates of the Carribbean line where we realized the error of some of the seating methods. There was an honest to goodness list in the boat, leading to Laersyn quoting lines from "Titanic". Also, during the first part of the ride, before the first drop when you're in "the bayou" we kept making Remy jokes and Dande, I believe, pointed to the old man in the rocking chair and exclaimed, "It's the Witness!" I got water flicked at me by Laersyn after we got to the Captain's Quarters section (the part where the skeletal captain's sitting up in bed, looking at stuff through his magnifying glass) and I said, "If those are the Captain's Quarters, where are the Captain's Dimes?" Abyss would have been proud of me, I believe. And speaking of the Brothers Drunk, we found them in the ride, too, in the form of three drunken men singing next to a donkey (who Kielle pointed out, was Jesse Willey).
We got out in the heart of New Orleans Square, passing by the excellent and expensive Blue Bayou Restaurant, leading Laersyn to joke with me about my affinity for their food. As I was still squelching, I took off with Sparks for the ladies' facilities and then we realized that we had to leave to get Pebbs. We said our goodbyes, then drove off to get the Pebblin. She was not ready yet, didn't have any money, and wasn't packed. It was rather fun to watch Pebbs pack: "Okay, what else do I need?" "<ticking off items> Pillow, blanket, toothpaste..." "Toothpaste! <scurries off to get said item>" Once she was finally packed, we hightailed it to Kielle's, the "Kryptonite" song blaring through my speakers:
If I go crazy, man,
Will you still call me Superman?
If I'm alive and well
Will you be there a-holding my hand?
I'll keep you by my side
With my superhuman...
My Kryptonite.
YEAHHHHHHH!
We got there before everyone else, where I realized that we did not get any sauce for the spaghetti. Luckily, David Amaya showed up and as soon as he set his stuff down, I sent him for sauce. Everyone trailed in at that point, and I started the process of making spaghetti. They broke out the sketchbooks at this time, and I found it hard to rule-- I mean, work in the kitchen and listen to the talking at the same time. It was then that Falstaff first started telling about the
"Chaos Theory" and how it applies to Ashlan and JB. At this time, Kielle pulled me aside because we didn't have a lot of room for people to eat at the table and mumbled, "Carpet." "What is it, Kielle?" "I've got new carpet. I don't want anyone to spill on it. I'm kinda worried." "Not a problem; I'll take care of it," I said, and I grabbed Falstaff's walking stick and held it up. Instantly, everyone became silent and attentive. It just goes to show that you can learn something from both "The Lord of the Flies" and "The Simpsons".
Dinner was served buffet style. As two people were vegetarians, we had spaghetti and marinara sauce, with or without mushrooms, and for drinks, girly wine (to use Laersyn's phrase), orange juice or Kool-aid. Everyone said that dinner was great, but I have a feeling that they may have been humoring me.
After dinner, David said that he wanted to have some words with the group. Out came the stick, and I turned the floor over to him. This is what he said:
Well, after that, we all gave him hugs, signed the T-shirt, and tried on the earrings. (Well, the girls did. Falstaff and Laersyn just had to admire them from afar.) The evening was drawing to a close. People were tired. I was supposed to share Kielle's bed, but Sparks and Pebbs got there first. There was also some stuff concerning the message boards, and showing up on IRC, but that's really neither here nor there. Funny, we get together for a vacation, and we end up online anyway.
Anyway, as I said, the night was drawing to a close, and we had to get up early the next day, for tommorow was
THE RENAISSANCE FAIRE.
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