It isn't you...

What a trip! (Literally.) Wow x 999. It was wonderful and really very satisfying.
The weather was warm, often hot, and almost always clear skies except for three
days where fog settled in for a few hours.

Well, since this was a very long and event-filled trip, I'm splitting things up a
bit. =D


Beautiful campasses.... I'm so in love. I have got to hit California somehow for
school. I just haven't a clue what to do about expenses. X_X

The "village" area is really cool. There was a great glass / bead store and I stuck
around to make earrings. They're really neat and it was awesome to actually make
them myself. =) I could have stayed there much longer and made some more. It was
inspiring, and I'm really not usually the beading-skilled person. LOL



Since Mandarake AND Ani-Mate are no longer in California *weeps* I had to do a heck
of a lot of searching to find other places to go. I resorted to going through Anime
Turnpike's list of links to find the shopping guide entitled "Zelgadis's Hangouts,"
which is a great guide for anime-related shops and Japanese restaurants in the L.A.
area. Paula saw Little Tokyo and couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it before.
=) So we made it basically a day tour and explored. Really a neat area with all
sorts of shops. I hit Kamikaze anime where I picked up three shirts--two Yu Yu
Hakusho and one X. They had a good selection of manga and music as well, all good
prices. I also explored Anime Jungle, which was cool, but more collector-like than
I really am in the anime fandom. I got for the drawings, etc, not the models or
statuettes. The most interesting find, though, was a Japanese Game of Life. *g*

There was this giftshop that had two stores in the area. We dropped in because they
had alarm clocks and I had to see if they carried the Sailor Moon one I saw back
over spring break. The thing was so damned cute.... It wasn't there, but there were
neat things inside. Tons of Totoro stuff (I love Hayao Miyazaki's work!!) And then
there were cute Hamtaro pins and magnets. I picked up one of each. The Pin will go
to Mara, and there's two Ham-Hams dressed cowboy-style, and the magnet, of the
yellow-sheeted ham-ham, goes to Rabi. =) They're cute, and it's sort of this
semi-established tradition with them. *g* But the there were these charm things
that Paula was looking at and then we all got drawn in to see what they were. Cell
phone charms! LOL My mom noted that I've always told her that cellphones are a
pretty big thing in Japan. The numorous charms were rather funny, actually. Paula
got this little stuffed monkey whose hair and sweater changes color in the sun; I
got a Totoro-themed set of three charms; and my mom got this cute one with a
mermaid and little bell. ^_^

We also walked down to Weller Court and checked out the bookstore there. A huge
selection, which was really awesome to check out. The CDs were freaking overpriced
(like, $33 dollars, which is totally ridiculous), but that was the only place I saw
Utada Hikari, which is driving me nuts. 9_9 Oh well... I looked at artbooks and
almost bought a new Amano one, or even one for Angel Santuary... but then decided
not to. I did pick up four volumes of Bronze that I'm missing. I'm down to only
missing 5, 7, and 11. (Yes, I got volume 12!!) I also bought a postcard book for
Kingdom Hearts, and it's got really nice art in it. ^_^ It was here I found a cute
assignment notebook and also anime-themed pencils and erasers for some of my
friends' gifts.



Okay, what do I say about all of this? *L* The best stories from this adventure are
ones you sort of had to be there for... But I'll try summing up some of the things
we did.

Tuesday we drove up from Anaheim Hills to Cambria, which took maybe, tops, 5 hours.
And that included a rest stop and time to picnic lunch. =) That evening we met Urs
at the Cambria Pine Lodge and checked out our second floor suite/room. Nicely set
up, but also a bit strange. A bedroom could be easily seperated from the rest of
the room, but really we didn't hang out there too much. We were mostly in the front
part of the sweet where there was a couch and nice wicker chairs. I'll get to the
Murphy bed story in a bit. *snickers*

We hit a few shops that evening and figured out where we'd want to head the next
day. I found a great gift for my mom's birthday at Among Friends and made my
purchase. ^_^ The clerk was real sweet and she wrapped it really nicely, adding all
these ribbons and curling them, too. Checked out Seekers, an incredible art
gallery, and ooohed- and awed over the collection. REally amazing stuff. I picked
up tons of the little flyers that were out about the artists so that I could show
them to my art teacher, Mr. P, and also have so images to look at and remember.
There were some incredible pieces.

I suppose now's the time for the Murphy bed story, but I find I'm a bit reluctant
to share. It's hard to tell, actually, because we were all rather exhausted and
punchy as all get out. Plus the others had about two martinnis each to add to the
exhaustion, so we were sort of a giggling mess. Anyway, we pulled out the sofa bed
as we set about figuring out sleeping arrangements. The sofa bed just did not look
comfortable, and actually the blanket looked a little dirty (which my mom had to
peer closely at to ensure that it wasn't mouse poop LOL). So that left us the big
bed and the murphy bed... Ahem. The thing is, that murphy bed? *snorts* The
freaking pull knob came off and the thing was NOT budging! So we called up
management at like 11 at night. The guy comes over a while later and looks at the
disconnected knob. He's like, "Huh. Guess it's broken." Nah.... really? And he's
looking along the edges as we tell him how it looks like someone pried it with a
knife the last time. Now, this guy walked in without any tools. Well, he decides he
needs tools so he walks out. Meanwhile, we're laughing as we speculate what's in
there--a dead body... if the sheets are clean at all... etc. LOL. A few minutes
later I hear an engine start and I was positive that the guy had to drive off! The
jerk hadn't even brought tools! 9_9 So we're a little insulted by this and also
laughing over it. Then we started teasing Urs because she wanted to take a shower
but it was taking forever for the guy to get back. The guy finally comes to the
door again and walks in with this baby crowbar and a freaking tire iron! Paula just
about died laughing and the rest of us were kind of a mess too. He looked sort of
embarrassed, or maybe he was scared? *snickers* Finally he pries it open and then
hightails it outta there... *shakes head* Oh, and the next night someone had to
come again. It was still broken, but the staff had only screwed on a new freaking
knob... which promptly fell off when we attemped to open it again. =P

We toured Hearst Castle again the following morning. I believe it was tour one. We
got to see both pools, which are so beautiful, one of the cabins, the main hall,
the dining hall, and the groundfloor theatre. Really neat sights although I still
think I liked tour 3, which my mom and I did last time, better. It wasn't the
stairs that killed my knees, though, it was the damn steep inclines that you walk
down towards the end. Yeesh! Oh, and ending on a positive note, our driver wasn't
pyscho this time! Yup, we drove around the corners at a reasonable speed, thank
you. ^__^

Mom wanted to put her feet in the ocean so we found a not too crowded turn off that
had access to the beach. She went in bare foot and I scouted teh sand for
interesting rocks. Paula and Urs watched us from the steps, amused by the
Wisconsinites. =) I agreed with Paula that we're wait to step into the ocean for
when we went back south to warmer waters in Laguna. At another turnout we stopped
because there were about half a dozen female elephant seals laying on the beach to
molt. There was actually a docent there so you didn't have idiots going too damn
close, and we got to hear a bit about the seals. There was one baby, who was really
a hoot and would occasionally rush closer to the water, then lay still, deciding
she was cool enough. They'd kick up sand now and then and lift a flipper to cool
off. They were fun to watch and it was great getting to talk with someone who knew
about the nature stuff of the area. =)

We hit more shops that afternoon. Neat iron works at some of the places, and a
wonderful garden and herb shop. I encountered the Twilight Zone experience where my
mom seemed to be asking at every turn what this or that plant or flower was. It was
kinda weird. *L* But then again, she's always been a midwesterner so a lot of these
plants we can't grow at home.



Well, the morning was cool, but we should have left earlier. *wince* We stopped at
Urs's stamp store and went into the Reigning Cats and Dogs store next door. Then we
hit the big Among Friends place, which I really didn't like, but Urs and Paula
found some sale items which was good. We finally left at about 1 o'clock after
finding out from Urs where a good golf course was on the way home so we could pick
up something for Jim, Paula's boyfriend who was watching the dogs and had traded
cars for the week (ah, four doors instead of two is a good thing ^_^). So the plans
were made to stop near Santa Barbara--get a hat at Sanpiper and eat at The Good
Earth. Well... that's fine and dandy, and traffic up to that point was reasonable
on Highway 1. About three we stopped to eat, got honked at by the wonderful locals
of Galeta... 9_9 And then we got stuck passing through Santa Barbara for over an
hour because of traffic. And it just never seemed to get better. My mom started
itching all over the place, which we later realized was a reaction to what must
have been a color preservative in her guacamole at lunch. Oi vey. What it gets down
to is that we didn't get home until late... maybe around eight or so. It was
freaking nuts. 9_9 Very long, very hellish, ride home. And let me tell you that the
laughter from the front seat that I could hear over my cd player was getting a
little nuts.... ;;^^ Poor Paula. She was such a sweetheart.



Laguna visit! We stopped in places here and there, not too much though. We did that
last time we visited and went down to the Pagent of the Masters art show. At Crazy
Shirts we found a good tee to give to Rafat, the one who's literally just given me
my car. Then we drove around trying to find one of the secluded beaches that Paula
remembered from years ago. It took a good while to find, and even then it wasn't
the right one, but it was still beautiful. I would have enjoyed it more except for
that this was one of the days that fog sat low and made the sky gray. I don't do
good in those situations. ;;^^ But the water was refreshing, even though my
shorts got wet when a big wave came in. I picked up some of the muscle
shells that were laying around because the insides were beautiful. My mom when on a
photographing romp and even found a decent-sized hermit crab. The lifeguard was a
really nice guy and pretty cute (and he was probably late thirties or so...
possibly older). Paula talked with him a while, probably trying to get over her
embarrassment of falling off one of the rocks at the bottom of the steps. She fell
pretty hard.... flat on her face, but survived with only a scraped knee. She was
embarrassed though. I talked with him also, about colleges and about a bit of anime
and then scifi. Nice guy. And he approved of the Moonridge visit the next day. *g*
His "real job," as he called it, is as a game warden and he had been involved with
relocating the animals up in Big Bear when the place was evacuated because of the
fires.

In a roundabout way we ended up at this Japanese market--Mitsuwa--which was really
neat. There was a good sized bookstore there and a few other stalls with various
things. I hung out at the bookstore but didn't find anymore Bronze. However, as I
was looking through their CDs of Jpop and Jrock, I noted the signs that said any
music but the new releases were used copies, so that meant cheaper price. Hell, the
singles CDs were $3!!! And the full length ones were only $9.20. I spent around $40
total there because I knew I'd never find those good of prices. I hated that I
haven't been into Japanese music lately and so don't really know the names of
artists... but for those prices? I took some chances, and honestly like everything
I got. Glay, Shazna, Two-Mix even, and two others whose names are slipping my mind,
ugh! Female leads, though. Nice change for me *g* At one of the stall/stores my mom
told me to check out so I went over and looked around. A TON of Totoro stuff which
I fell in love with. Even china plates. Actually, I ended up with these small
tupper-ware with Totoro characters on the covers. =) I found my artbook here,
deciding on a Kingdom Hearts volume instead of even Amano. It's a really nice book,
actually, and I was sort of surprised how much I liked it. I also bought two card
decks despite the overpricing at $5.20 (Angel Santuary and X). Also, the little
selection of anime soundtracks were priced $11 a cd. I took the opportunity to grab
a Cowboy Bebop soundtrack--Blue. It's a really great CD. Neat music, so I'm glad I
got it.

Finally we got home and got to see Jim that night. I talked with him a lot,
actually, and it was neat. He's a really nice guy and rather ingenious with a lot
of things. Paula talked about him with me one of the nights in Cambria while she
taught me to knit while Mom and Urs went out food-hunting. *g*



Oh my god. Yeah... that's it. LOL Actually I was such a fidgeting bundle of energy
when we left around 3:30 to head back that I had to write to get my thoughts out.
*g* So here tis:

|| What can I say about getting to meet face-to-face with the actors I love to
watch? I'm a bundle of grins, giggles, and excitement. I'm praying to all the gods
of the world and photographers to bless my rolls of film because I was 6 pictures
or so into my second roll when I realized my camera was on panorama! Shit! And this
was after the snake crawled up Garett's shirt! [omg was that funny...] They
have to turn out! *weep* I braved shouldering forward to get a picture with both
guys. >^,,^< *purr* So dang cute! I'm glad I did it =) I didn't really get to talk
with Garett and actually felt a little distanced, but that was okay because Richard
was such a delight! Holy cow, I can't believe how blue his eyes are! He was sweet
and really funny. ^_^ When I got to be sandwiched (*squee*) between them, Richard
was like petting Garett! LOL That was when the whole "Why are you doing
that?" / "Because I love you so much" conversation that continued on to be "Why are
you so mean?" "Because I love you ^_^) *g* That was sooooo cool. And I was right in
the middle of it! *squee* ^___________________________________^ And it was almost
criminal how comfortable it was to sneak my arms around their waists. =) Just way
cool. And awesome to meet people! Star, MJ, Terry, Joanne, Joan, Ryo, Kate, Elain,
Jenny,... the list goes on due to the fact that I'm horrible at remembering names!
Cool. Just really freaking cool. Beautiful area, great people, super cute guys...
*g* not to mention smart (and lucky!!) racoons and snakes! Ahh... Wonderful times.
I am going to have to figure out how to do this again next year. There goes my
expenses! LOL ||

And let me tell you, I'm still trying to get over being so close to Richard Burgi.
*_* I honestly never expected him to be so personable and so easy to be comfortable
with. He's not my usual type of guy to be super attracted to, either. I mean, I
went in thinking I'd be falling for Garett and yet end up practically drowning in
RB's incredible ice blue eyes. *___* Oh my, oh my, oh my. And his smile! It was
just beautiful and dazzling! *giggles* I still feel tingly when I think about it.
>^,,^< As I mentioned earlier, it was sinfully wonderful standing close to get
pictures. *g* I think I also really liked Richard because he was real cute about
signing the stuff I had along. Maybe I was just too shy or something with Garett so
that I didn't get the best impression with him... too bad, but it's really okay.
I'm looking forward to sending out the pictures to Sue and Audra *g* I felt my face
get all hot and I barely resisted giggling as Richard drew thought bubbles on both
copies of the collages I printed for autographs (one for Audra, one for me.) And in
mine he wrote "Oh what a doll that Clarity is." *g* It was really sweet. And for
Audra his though bubble read "Oh where is she?"

Let's see... how can I tell all there is to tell? It was just great to meet people.
I felt like running into the entrance when we first got there and was practically
dancing in place as Paula and Mom caught up. Once inside I took off, though, and
cruised, searching almost frantically for Star. On the way back up I caught sight
of red hair and was relieved. =) Met my first few people and followed up for the
animal auction. Caught sight of both Garett and Richard and started to wonder if
I'd actually be brave enough not to make a complete fool of myself later. =P The
auction was really great. Such beautiful animals, and I think the zoo does a great
job with taking care of the critters that are injured. Definately the best times
were when Garett or Richard came out to "escourt" the animals. *g* I loved when RB
walked out with his son with one of the owls. It was too funny when the kid said
rather loudly "Take him away!" once the bidding closed. *snickers* Miko the racoon
knew what to do, though. ^_~ She started to climb RB's leg. *drool* Although I
admit that the snake had to truly be the best... omg, that was just too funny.
First the boa started to go up the back of GM's shirt, and then looked about to
check out the shorts, yet moved around the front and climbed in. Oh my... cameras
were flying then!! *g* That was terriffic.

By the autographing time I met up with more people. It was too funny how I met Kat.
I was talking with Ryo as we waited in line and then chatted with the other people
around us. Suddenly Kat calls out "Who's Clarity!" and she's standing right next to
me. I got two tapes full of 9 episodes I don't have. What a doll! I so owe her.
>^,,^< Like I said before, I didn't hit it off spectacullarly with Garett and had a
wonderful time around Richard. Oh, I'm in love! *g* I tell you, I now am determined
to make a focus on Jim's character when writing. RB's just such a wonderful guy.
^___^ The guys were a riot with some of the other picture requests and I thought it
was great that they'd do pretty much whatever. =) I got to see the Blair and Jim
bears up close and personal since Kat was carrying them. RB and GM were a hoot
holding onto 'em and posing. Then there were the Ty dolls done up like their
characters... lmao. GM mooned the photos with the Blair doll and then was having
issues pulling the pants up! *snickers* and folks were teasing him about it. Then
someone shouted a request in the middle of fan pics if the two would just do a
picture of the two of them. The guys played it up and I was snapping my camera fast
to capture all I could. Too cute... Richard bent down so he was shorter than
Garett, which brought lots of delighted laughter.

It was really a wonderful experience and I felt like I was walking on air all
day... yeah, even until one o'clock in the morning when I finall stopped reading
fanfics on my laptop! LOL And that was after sketching two Moonridge-based cartoons
(although Sentinel-lized) and typing up a short story from Jim's POV. =) Heck, I
still feel rather giddy today thinking about the events. ^_^ I held my binder with
the pics and my fanworks close all day. Thank goodness, because the bitch in front
of me on the way to Kansas City spilled her soda all over the place! My sweatshirt
is SOAKED. It's disgusting. And it also got on my laptop bag! As we got out
bags here at home, I told my mom that if it'd gotten on my binder I would have had
to kill someone.... ;;^^ I wasn't stretching that threat, either, man. LOL.



Cassie and Maggie, Paula's dogs, rode with us to the airport. We checked in and
about ten minutes before we were supposed to board they decide to tell us that hey,
the flight's delayed two hours! Ugh! But as we checked about our connecting flight
out of Kansas City, Mom and i were both relieved for two hours less of sitting
there (we had to stay two hours anywho. 9_9) So I napped, I read, I wrote a bit, I
drew a bit... But still, I didn't get to step over the threshold into my house
until 7 o'clock this evening. Whew. Long trip. Wonderful trip. It feels almost
alien to be home now. Such a different terrain and plant life... different air,
different water source. =) I really enjoyed my time and I guess I'm okay to be back
now. I started missing my own pups and honestly I got to do pretty much everything
I wanted to do. I didn't find doujinshi anywhere this time, but y'know, I got a lot
of other way cool stuff... and Moonridge counts as, oh, I dunno, one of the coolest
things I've gotten to do in quite a long time. *vbg*



To all the folks who helped make this journey special, even if they don't read my
LJ, I want to acknowledge them. ^_^

Paula is the number one person I must thank. This is my mom's friend through
various Havanese lists. We visited and stayed with her once before, but not for
nearly as long a time. Paula helped figure out where everything was that I wanted
to check out and did all the driving. Yes, even the hellish 8 hours from Cambria
back to Anaheim hills on Thursday. Oh, and she braved LA traffic for Little
Tokyo.... and the heights of Big Bear for Moonridge..... Obviously the list goes
on. I also owe a heartfelt thank you for lessons in knitting, something I enjoyed
being taught.

Ursula is another one of my mom's friends. We met with her in Cambria and
hung out, shopped, and explored Hearst Castle again. Thanks to her skillful driving
we found our way around the area. And she's got a scifi passion that was great to
talk about. Also provided my fix of David McCullam for the duration of my trip. =)
She's gonna be my provider of NCSI episodes. (Whee!)

Star, you inspired my confidence to walk into the middle of things and say
howdy. =P lol. I felt pretty comfortable heading into Moonridge thanks to our
lengthy discussions through e-mail. It was great meeting you. BTW, how can I get a
copy of the tape you shot? ^___^V

Kat, I owe you big time! *hugs* Thank you SO much for lugging along the
tapes for me =) I'm only missing six episodes now, which rocks. I'm looking forward
to watching them and continue to fill in my knowledge of TS canon. *g* It was great
meeting you... And darn those bears were cute! *g*

Along with Star and Kat... hello to MJ, Joanne, Jenny, Elaine, Ryo, Terry, and all
those other people I met at Moonridge whose names I've forgotten! *L* ^_^;; I can
be so bad at names. It was wonderful meeting with you and getting to talk with you
in person. =) It's really neat to be able to put a face with the names I see coming
through my email.



Oh man, it's weird to be back, but I"m looking forward to writing like mad and
working through the new Sentinel episodes.. and then I've been itching to play some
video games. I think I might be calm enough over the deletion of my game save to
finally restart Final Fantasy 9 again. That'd be cool. Well... I guess that's all,
finally. LOL I've been babbling for about two hours, lordy!

~ Clarity / Karasu ( ')> ~

P.S. Richard is sooo hot. His eyes were incredible! And his smile! Ack! And I got
to be sandwiched between both Garett and Richard! *giggles* I'm one happy chica.