Rain Gryphon

A long overdue update. I've been in California trying to get a job out there. I'm back in Ohio again. I don't think I'm going to get anything, at least not right away, but we'll see what develops. Perhaps by the end of the month I'll know more.

Anyway, the trip was fun, and I got to see a lot of friends that I've not seen for awhile, so it wasn't wasted. I flew out from Columbus last Saturday. My roommate RC drove me to the airport way early (he had to work) so I ended up there at 6 for a flight that left at 8. I just stayed up all night the night before. I didn't get off work until 1am Saturday norning, so by the time I got home and finished packing, it seemed rather pointless to go to bed. I knew I'd sleep on the plane anyway - the vibration and droning make it hard to stay awake.
While I was waiting the night out, I watched some strange old French movie about men transporting nitroglycerin though the jungle for an oil drilling company. The plot was followable, but the actions of the characters often made little to no sense. I sometimes think that the French are all completely mad.
On the plane, I alternated between drowsing, and reading a copy of 'Alice in Wonderland' that I'd bought at the airport. We stopped at Chicago to pick up more passengers. As it was to be a 45 minute stopover we were given the option of staying on the plane or getting off then reboarding. I got off to wander about. One of the little shops had a display of C-shaped neck pillows shaped like animals. I ended up with one that looks like a Seal curled around my neck. He's way cute, and makes the airplane seat much more comfortable.
While I was looking for something to eat, they paged me to a terminal at the far end of O'Hare (a huge airport). Apparently the plane we arrived on was found to be defective, and removed from service, so I had to scramble along through O'Hare's underground tunnels to get to the correct place. Apart from general nervousness at trying to find where I should be, it was enjoyable. I got to go along the underground 'tunnel of light', which is a long, long pedestrian slidewalk with a multi-coloured light sculpture overhead. IIRC, it was used in 'Logan's Run'. They also had a brachiosaur skeleton mounted in one of the consourses that I passed through. O'Hare's enormous, but always well-decorated.
So, at any rate we eventually left a half hour late or so. We made up the time in flight, and the new plane was more comfortable than the old one, so it all worked out. At San Jose we had to deplane using stairs, and walk along an old-fashioned 1960s style covered walkway to get to the terminal. It's been years since I've used one of those.
Findra (who I stayed with) took me to lunch at an English style pub (Findra being from England knows his pubs) where we met Dan Mercer, who I knew long ago when I was running NarniaMUSH. Spent a nice hour or so there eating steak and kidney pie and drinking beer, chatting over various things. Afterward Findra took me back to his place and put me to bed for a nap, since I was about to fall over, and my sinusses (infected) were hurting badly from the flight.
Later that night, after I was recovered, we went out and had dinner with SpaceRoo and Skyler. After dinner, we went back to their place and played the strangest video game about a Weasel who's chained at the wrist to a completely indestructible Rabbit. They have to run amock in an animal-testing facility and try to cause as much damage as possible. The Weasel can swing the Rabbit around like a chain mace, throw him into machinery, etc. It has this bizarre manic intensity to it, when you've broken into a computer room and the Rabbit's smashing stuff left and right, so things're blowing up like a string of firecrackers. The more stuff the Rabbit breaks, the more excited he gets, until he finally can't be controlled and he's just dragging the Weasel along as he smashes stuff. I was still lagged from no sleep the night before, so it all started getting kind of weird for me eventually. I slept well Saturday night.

Sunday morning we got up late. I got my hair cut, then we ate at a Chinese place. Findra rented a small airplane (a Piper Cherokee Archer) and took me around the Bay. We started out in the South Bay, and went north up the peninsula, then east along the inlet to where the Pacific fleet anchors. You could see the ruins in the water where the Port Chicago ammunition depot blew up in 1944. We turned back and went around Mount Diablo, where we saw the little blue-roofed tower at the top where a murder apparently took place back in the late 19th century. Some people claim that all of the Zodiac murders from the late 60s - early 70s can be connected by lines drawn through that tower as well.
I enjoyed the flight immensely, but after we were done my sinusses were throbbing again. I ended up napping on ther couch, and felt better afterward. As much as it hurt, I think the recurring pressure changes kind of 'blew out' the blockage and allowed my sinusses to drain and heal, because by Wednesday, the infection that had lingered on for weeks had pretty much cleared up.
The week itself is kind of a blur. My recruiter didn't have the interviews lined up for me that he'd told me he would, so I spent my days on the phone, trying to get myself listened to. Monday night Oliver Otter came over. Findra made a wonderful chicken curry, and we watched "Kiki's Delivery Service", which is a sweet movie about a young witch and her Cat who start a company to deliver packages. Tuesday night we went over to Dan Mercer's, and watched a movie called "Catch Me if You Can", a true story about a conman. Wednesday night was furry pizza night. We showed up late, as I wasted two hours waiting on my recruiter to return a call as he'd promised, and by the time we arrived it was pretty well breaking up. I did get to see Smash, whom I've not seen in years, and the restaurant was decorated with Ferrari bric-a-bric, including some racing pictures, so that was pleasant. Had I known, I'd have worn my Ferarri shirt. Thursday and Friday Oliver Otter came over, and we worked on an innersuit for my old Red Panda fursuit 'Amodeo' that I gave to Findra, and also watched more anime, including Totoro. Totoro made a great impression on me. Thursday night we ate at a bento place, and Friday I cooked steak and baked veggies for Oliver and Findra. Both very warm, snuggly evenings spent watching movies and socializing.

Findra has always liked Amodeo, and now that I have Splash (my Otter) I don't wear Amodeo so often as I used to, so now he's Findra's. Findra's a bit skinnier than I, so he needed an undersuit to bulk him out, but he's fairly begun on that, and ought to be able to complete it without help. The shelf over my bed where I keep my puppets and fursuit heads looks sort of empty without his silly grin, but I'm glad to see him go where he'll be used an appreciated. It was kind of fun for the reactions I got from various bystanders as well - there's sort of an amazement among furries that anyone would just give away a custom fursuit. When one's been immersed in that costuming culture for long enough, it's easy to forget how unobtainable a good custom-built suit looks to others.
Everyone in the south Bay seems to have lemons growing in their yard. Skyler and SpaceRoo had like three enormous boxes of the things on their table that they were trying to give away, but nobody'd take them, because they all had their own. Findra's lemon tree is smaller, but still had plenty. Calabazas Creek runs not too far from the house, and I had frequent occasion to cross it walking to the store. Twice I saw lemons floating along in the creek. Lemons in the store are dirt cheap, of course, even though almost everything else costs more than it does here. The other exception is olives. I got a big ol' can of black olives for $1.50, which I ended up eating all by myself because no one else liked them.

Saturday we got up early, and drove down to Monterey, down in the heart of the artichoke farms. Miles and miles of fields of artichokes. I'd never realized that there was that much of a market for the things. We ate lunch, and then Findra took me to the Aquarium. It's a wonderful place. I have an affinity for musea and zoos to begin with, and this is an exceptionally nice example. One of the female Sea Otters came up and masturbated in front of us, first licking, then squeezing, then licking some more, so close that I could have touched her were it not for the glass. The three Otters also got seafood treats frozen inside of big plastic tubes, a sort of puzzle to keep them entertained. One was whamming her tube right on the glass in front of us, trying to break up the contents so she could get them out. The aquarium had a special exhibit on jellyfish, several rooms full or various sorts. They're so quiet and alien, just pulsing away, oblivious to everything around them. Findra demonstrated how to make the Cuttlefish change colours by making a 'two-tentacled' threat display with his hand. There's a neat open aviary, and a contact pool where you can feel the various marine life too.
Monterey itself sort of reminds me of Ocean City. It's got that same sort of atmosphere to it, except that there's something indefinably west coast about it. Very much a tourist town - I can just imagine what it'd be like in Summer. It rises up rather steeply from the bay, so you end up walking up and down a lot, and can see the ocean from much of the town. I got a shirt with Otters on it, and later, as we drove back along the coast, I saw Otters playing in the surf, the first time I've ever seen them in the wild. It's satisfying to see them in the wild, and know that they really do exist. It makes them more real, instead of being animals that one just sees in documentaries and at the zoo.

Saturday night after we got back from Monterey, we ate at a sushi bar. The chef was remarkable, one of the best I've ever seen. Among the things he offered us were two varieties of broiled maki (the little rolls) - the "Lion King" and the "Crazy Monkey", both his own inventions. I've never seen sushi broiled before. Also, we had a sweet shrimp sushi called 'amaebi', which was fairly conventional. Since we enjoyed it so much, though, he did a bit extra for us and served up the deep-fried shrimp heads too. Apparently these are a common accompaniment to the amaebi in Japan, but not often served in the west. I ate mine, bristly feelers and all. The sake helped. It really didn't have much taste - just very crunchy, and sort of rich and fatty, probably from the brain and nerves. I'm glad to have had it, if only for the experience of having eaten something like that. It's one of those things that you don't even imagine someone eating until it's sitting in front of you. The chef seemed terribly pleased with himself, to have put fried shrimp heads before a pair of westerners and had us enjoy them. That was a fun experience, sitting right up at the bar and chatting with the chef while he made the sushi.

Now I'm back home again, and it's about time for bed.