Going to California

This will probably be the last post I make for about a week, as we get up bright and early tomorrow morning to fly to California, where I'll be meeting Jeremy's mom, his remaining siblings (I've already met his youngest brother), and all of his nieces and nephews. This is only marginally nerve-wracking, as such things tend to be. Mainly, I'm just hoping that everyone likes me and that the kids all love what we got them for Christmas. Because seriously, I think we're bringing an entire suitcase just for presents. :)

For whatever reason, the original flight I had us on got changed to an earlier flight, which is a bit of a pain. We have to get up at the usual time tomorrow morning (o'dark thirty), and we really need to pack and get everything else done tonight. We've gotta figure out how to get Black over to Uncle Andrew's house, as he is doing much better, but still should probably be isolated and watched for any signs that he's not continuing to get better. He does at least get to play with the other cats at Andrew's this time, though, which will make all of them very happy. :)

Our plans for California are pretty much entirely family stuff. We'll head straight to Jeremy's mom's house tomorrow afternoon. Friday, we're going to spend the day in libraries and cemeteries, working on his family's genealogy. Saturday, we're meeting up with one of his brothers (who Jeremy has not seen since said brother was a baby, and said brother is 30 now) and his family. Sunday, Jeremy's mom is having all of her kids (Jeremy, another brother, and his only sister) and their kids over for dinner. Monday, we fly back. It'll be a bit of a whirlwind, but with the flights and all, we really only have three solid days to spend.

So yeah, don't expect much out of me till I'm back in the office on Tuesday. In the meantime, I'm going to be crocheting like a madwoman and trying to work on stuff for my Vampire game. Hopefully not at the same time. The world does not need a crocheting vampire beyond my old character, Mel. :)

A bit of recap

So I sort of forgot to keep posting last week while in Laguna Niguel. I'd say the sun fried my brain, but I really didn't see that much sun while I was there. The sun was setting around 5 p.m. daily, and we left the Archives around 4:15 or so every day. By the time we drove back to the hotel, it was pretty much beginning to get dark out, and by the time we went to eat, it was always dark.

We did head out to Laguna Beach on Thursday after work, though, to see the sunset and get right up next to the ocean. We all ran and touched the surf after a rather high rush of water forced us to run. If it weren't for not having any good way to get the sand off of my feet when I was done, I would have ditched my shoes and socks and rolled up my capris to play in the water. :) I'm so much like those little kids who like play in the mud or whatever, and then are like "ewww, icky, get it off of me!" :)

Got back Friday and saw my first snowfall of this winter as the cab drove me away from the airport. It didn't start back up again until Saturday night, while I was at my office Christmas party. I kept eyeballing the snow, making sure it wasn't sticking, and even texted Jerome to find out if it was snowing on our side of the lake. He said it wasn't, but by the time Ann and I left, it was snowing heavier at the apartment than it had been in Kirkland!

Woke up Sunday to everything still covered in snow. For those of you who don't live in Seattle, this doesn't happen much here. I was a little concerned because even the parking lot still had snow on it, and the temperatures were staying below freezing. I braved the ice and ickiness though, so I could go meet up with Jeremy for coffee. I insisted that we were WALKING to the coffee shop, however. :)

After that, Jeremy ran his one shot of Army of Darkness rules (though set during the French Revolution), and I literally laughed until my face hurt. We had a particularly wacky cast of characters, and so much geekiness in the room that it probably should have exploded or something. Multi-genre geekiness, in fact. Good times, and I think I'm going to be playing in other one shots with the same crowd. I'm sure this means I'll be persuaded to run eventually, so I've gotta dust off one of the systems I've bought and never touched... leaning heavily towards All Flesh Must Be Eaten, because who doesn't like zombies?

The. End.

It's Monday...

Up bright and early, as per the usual, only it's gray and rainy at the coast. Now, if it's anything like yesterday was, I'll drive two miles east, and it'll be sunny again. In fact, the forecast for Ukiah, which is where I'm going today, is sunny and in the 90s. Unfortunately, I packed for the coast, which is supposed to be in the 70s. Thank goodness for having at least one pair of really lightweight capris. :)

I'm strongly debating whether or not I should eat before I leave, or eat when I get there. The road that I have to take from Fort Bragg is super curvy, and I don't much want to lose my breakfast. So I think I'll compromise and stop halfway for food. Once I get past the curvy part, that is. :)

The only other big disappointment is that my cell phone is on roaming here, which makes it hard to call Jerome, or call the person who's directing this project. I'm hoping for a clear signal today when I'm not on the coast, but who knows. There are places in California without cell towers. This comes as a shock to me. Then again, I'm not too sure what I expected of California. I drove through some really rural parts, some of which looked like Kansas, and then some that did not. And now I'm at the ocean. Weird frickin' state. :)