Thursday, September 9, 2004: Los Angeles
Two hours until take-off. MiniBooj and Pooh 
wait patiently at the gate for our boarding call. We watch a grungy rock band sit near us in the waiting area. Sadly, no cute boys in the band, but we had a nice time listening to their Scottish accents.
The plane wasn't very full with a long string of empty middle seats down each side. Some guy asked to trade seats with Pooh. Not quite sure if it was a good idea or not to have accepted. Pooh moved from having a crying baby behind her to having a broken seatback in front of her. I swear, that seat went back twice as much as it was supposed to. Oomph. We were delayed for two hours because of residual Hurrican Frances storms to our west. Each time the pilot turned off the engines to wait it out, we were given the go-ahead, only to be stopped again. Imagine this in half hour spurts. Grrrr.
Arrived in L.A. only an hour late. Yay. Thanks to the wonders of Mastercard, Pooh decided to treat herself to a lovely relaxing night in a nice hotel. MiniBooj especially loved the huge king-sized bed. 
J called to ask what she needed to pack. (Heh. Calling me to ask about packing. lmfao) Jen called to say she had finally made it to Pasadena. And Pooh felt all responsible and stuff, calling to check up on flights and car rentals and other annoying phone calls. And then it was time to enjoy PoohDay.
You know, there's something really nice about having a day all to yourself just to relax... jump on the bed... be all silly... and run around your own hotel room nekkid. And it's also really nice to do something completely decadent. Like pigging out on room service and watching the Cartoon Network (shut up, there was nothing else on). Or do something completely stupid. Like the MiniBooj and Poohbear 
waiting for their really expensive movie (NOT... that kind of movie) to come on. Which was REALLY stupid because Pooh almost fell asleep in the middle of it.
After watching all those commercials advertising their beds, I kinda wanted to see just how comfy the Sheraton beds were. (This fixation began in China where we almost had a mutiny and tried to switch hotels from our no-name 5-star Beijing hotel - that of the really hard beds - to the Sheraton down the street, especially after catching one of their commercials on ChinaTV - you know the one with all the people bouncing on their beds.) Dude. That bed was pretty damn comfy. (Next time, splurging on a Westin bed, "supposedly" the best) Even the Poohbear and MiniBooj 
agreed on the bed. Did I mention it was ridiculously huge? Sorry... I don't get out much. :P Btw, the most evil thing I did to myself on this trip was calling the credit card company beforehand to inform them I was going to go on a trip and to ignore any exorbitant charges I might accidentally put on the card. Yeah... really bad idea because the hotel bill? Umm... I might have gone just a teeny eeny itty bitty crazy that night. Oops. But it was PoohDay, so whatever.
Friday, September 10, 2004: Disneyland, Anaheim
The plan was to have Gracie arrive at the hotel, for us to take a nap before J got in, and then pick her up at the airport. What actually happened was Pooh woke up around 5AM and couldn't fall back asleep. Then Gracie arrived and we watched 'The Fresh Prince' on TV. We had breakfast before going back to LAX to pick up J. Sadly, no naps. Waited forever at the airport for the shuttle to pick up our car. Why is it when you're not ready for them, a million Hertz shuttles go by, but when you're standing there waiting for them, it takes them forever for just one of them to come by. Did I mention it was my first time renting a car by myself? Ever? And I had to let everyone know? (shut up, I'm a dork)
Me: It's my first time!
HertzDude: Really? You're my second first-timer today.
Me: ....
Me: Well, now I don't feel so special anymore.
HertzDude: Nooooooo, you're still special.
Me: Woohoo! (except without the "woo" or the "hoo")
HertzDude: Lemme sell you all the insurance and extra fees I can think of!
Me: Okay! (J/K)
The guy said the car was "champagne." This 
is not champagne. It's a fugly, sea-foamy, pukey green. Bleh. BUT it had the biggest trunk ever. I could have brought all the stuffed animals and put them in there... and thrown TheKiefer in there with room to spare. In all fairness to me... it's been YEARS since I last drove a Taurus. That said, it was totally not my fault that I was a complete goober and couldn't figure out how to adjust the seat or find the trunk release or figure out how to turn on the headlights. Or that every time I went to switch gears, I kept reaching down by my leg instead of up by the steering wheel. I'm too used to my Civic, dammit! (shaddup, no laughing. And we won't get into how now in my Civic, I keep trying to switch gears up by the steering wheel and not by my leg. GRRRR! I swear, I'm such a freak.)
The best part of our fugly car was the Neverlost system. 
Dude! I'm so glad J and I decided to splurge on it. Best $8/day EVA! (Also, gotta love that AAA discount. Rowr!) The first time we took it out for a test drive, both J and Gracie couldn't take their eyes off the damn thing. Hee. We were so in lurve with it, I'm thinking about marrying it. Now I may need to get a GPS system for my car. Because of that thing, the drive to Anaheim was a cinch and took no time at all. Okay, traffic wasn't too bad, which helped although I will rant that people in L.A. still need to learn how to drive. I can't count how many times we ran into a sea of brake lights and the next minute, traffic was speeding by at 80mph. People sure are brake-happy around here.
Got to our hotel in Anaheim and immediately proceeded to Disneyland 
(ignore the random people in the pic). Friday afternoon and hardly any waits anywhere. Every amusement park should be like that. Because there were only 5 minute waits for 90% of the rides, we obviously had to go on as many of them as possible. First stop: the Indiana Jones Adventure. 
.
J and I aren't known as the Tongue Ladies at work for nuthin'. 
The real Pooh is a punk. Just thought I'd let everyone know. On our way to some other ride, we passed Tigger and Eeyore taking pics with some kids. J saw RealPooh walking by and asked to take a picture with him. When he didn't respond, she reached out to touch his arm and that PoohPunk shrugged her hand off. Dude. Didn't even acknowledge her. Made like she totally offended him, and kept walking. lmfao. She was so pissed. As was I because PoohBear should never be an ass, dammit. We ran out of things to do and ended back near the photo location, where J proceeded to rant about that PunkPooh to the workers there. We ended up taking a picture with Tigger 
. Dude. Tigger totally tried to cop a feel. When he pulled me into a hug... I don't think the way he was rubbing my arm was an entirely Disney-rated thing for him to do. Kinda explains his... bounce. J ended up warning him before she'd take her picture with him. Me? Secretly, it was kinda nice to get some action at Disney. Heh. Luckily, they were rotating through PoohBears at that moment so we got the more fun Pooh and not that PunkassPooh. After all, Pooh can't go to Disney and not take a pic with Pooh. 
. Also took a pic with Eeyore, but that one came out crappy so none of you get to see it. Ha!
We did all of Disneyland in about 5 hours. Our longest wait was about 10 minutes for a ride, and we went on pretty much everything that was open. Sadly, all the really good rides were closed for 1) renovations, 2) safety issues, or 3) being prepped for holiday stuff, which sucked because J had never gone on Space Mountain before. Blech. Even more blech than not being able to go on the better rides? The Pinocchio ride. SUCKED, dude. No, wait. It BLEW. And the Snow White ride? Literally went from the witch giving her the apple to "And they lived happily ever after." Felt like I had just sat through a five minute sitcom with the obligatory crappy resolution and cheesy music at the end. Other than all that, it was a good start to the weekend.
But methinks Disney World is the place to be when I make my next Disney-related trip... once every ten or so years.
And of course, I feel I must comment on the dinner experience. Strolled through Downtown Disney looking for dinner. We ended up eating at some cafe, a table by the front window where we could snark on the people outside. We also had a great view of the host standing outside. Maybe it was too early or too late for dinner. Maybe he just got really bored standing out there doing nothing. In any case, said host was standing behind a podium. Perhaps he just had a nervous tic or was really restless. It could explain why he was bouncing up against the podium... gripping the sides of the podium... It was... interesting. 'Course, J and I were drinking so...
Saturday, September 11, 2004: California Adventure, Anaheim
I have to be honest here. When people warned me CA Adventure sucked, I tried to be optimistic.
God, I hate admitting when other people are right. Grrrr.
If it weren't for all the actors there, the place only takes less than half a day to get through. But the stars were there that day, as all the banners 
liked to remind everyone. Except for maybe two or three celebs, it was a bit underwhelming. Then again, we didn't get to see Kirk Cameron because his bit was scheduled for late Sunday, damn him. The best part of the Preview Weekend: lines for all the rides were really short because everyone else was busy stalking celebrities. To be fair, the rides that were there were okay. Some were pretty good. And we had fun with what was offered. The park is just... small... and doesn't have much to offer, which is why it falls under the general category of suckdom. Not that it should stop anyone from visiting. I'm all for making at least one visit to DL/CA (to um, fully appreciate Orlando, lol).
Soarin' Over California was fun, as was the Grizzly River Run. That one would have been much better (imo), if J hadn't changed seats in the beginning because I ended up getting completely soaked. I can't believe that bitca laughed at me, too, when it was all her fault. Hrmph. Soggy jeans are so not fun. California Screamin' was fun. 
But did I mention it was pretty much the only roller coaster there? Okay, there might have been another one, but it was small. Due to medical reasons (yes, that's it), we did not attempt the TWilight Zone Tower of Terror.
Inbetween stalking and getting dissed by celebs, J 
had her picture taken with Mushu 
. And we rode the Sunwheel. 
Wussies that we were, we only rode the non-swinging gondolas. The two freaky girls in the swinging gondola behind us, however, were standing up and actively rocking theirs. Eep. We got to see the park from above 
... and the more obsessive fanpeople lining up for the celebs 
... and got a nice view of Disneyland 
(still miffed about Space Mountain being closed).
We stayed to watch the New Dramas preview and sat through the Q&A sessions for 'Desperate Housewives' and 'life as we know it.' The air-conditioning in the theater was heavenly. Why does the sun feel hotter in California? Afterwards, we lined the parade path and waited for all the stars to drive sloooooooooowly by. 
Yay, Mickey! But boo and hiss to the freaky weird tans Gracie and I got from standing outside all day. *kicks J for pre-tanning before the trip so hers wasn't quite as noticeable* I blame J, of course. She's been trying to get me out in the sun to get some color for months. And what happens? Icky sleeve lines and because I was wearing a V-neck shirt (shut up!), I had a nice triangle tan on my chest. Dude. Not cool. Also not cool: a faint tan of my necklace in the center of triangle tan. Seriously.Not.Cool. (Don't laugh, dammit! This is going to screw with the hoochie clothes I planned to wear in Vegas for my sugardaddy hunt. *sob*)
Finished Disney, etc. early on Saturday and tried to find dinner. The sucky part of being in an unfamiliar city is not knowing any good restaurants. Between Jennifer, her boyfriend, J, me and my guidebook (shut up, again)... and calls to people we all knew in the area (goddamn, how come no one is ever home when you need them?)... we ended up with a nice list of bars to go to, but still couldn't find a good place to have a real dinner and just hang out. Thank god for the boyfriend's roomie who provided us with two options. And thank goodness for the Neverlost!
Long Beach, here we come. I love that Neverlost system. It got us there so fast, J 
ended up getting hit on by some drunk guys on a boat while I was busy trying to figure out directions with Jennifer over the phone (huh. it's like deja vu). Sadly, Jennifer and Jerome (dude, what's up with all the 'J' names?) didn't have a GPS system because they got lost lost lost lost. Oh, they had directions from the roomie, but after our last trip out here, she should have known that those directions would help... not so much. People there and directions don't mix, apparently. They ended up calling the restaurant and some guy there told them to go all the way to the end of the 710 and then drive towards the water to get there. Sure, sounds easy... until you realize that the end of the 710? Water on three sides. lmfao. But they finally got there and looked oh so cute 
. Happy cute couples make me sick, yo.
*sigh* Was designated driver for the weekend since J is a year short of being able to rent a car. That meant drinking was at a minimum. (Thank goodness for Vegas in... holy crap... is it a week? Two weeks? I need a break from vaca. La la la...)
Sunday, September 12, 2004: Los Angeles, Again
Sunday. Time to go home.
Thank goodness, too, because J is such a blanket hog. Heh. And wouldn't you know it, we never did get our clocks right, waking up three or four times starting around 6AM on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Jetlag sucks. Bleh.
Had a late breakfast and spent the last few hours in L.A. just driving around. Have I mentioned how much we love the Neverlost? It has a section for local attractions. We ended up just choosing some of the random touristy things on the list and did a quick tour. We saw palm trees 
... found a good view of the Hollywood sign 
... paid a buttload of money to park for half an hour so we could check out the Kodak Theater 
and the Chinese Theater 
. We did a bit of cheesy shopping while we were in the area. J's addicted to LL Cool J and lucky bitca found one of those "real" celeb pics of him in one of those stores. We tried to find one of JG for our friend Freeman, but alas, were disappointed. Guess she's not as big a star as everyone makes her out to be. Heh. Also grabbed a star map for shits and giggles... and of course, loaded up on fizzies (J's cutesy term for soda. not mine, cuz I don't drink soda *blink blink*) for the rest of our tour. We did the obligatory drive down Rodeo Drive but didn't bother to get out. We already know we can't afford anything there so why rub it in, right? And because it was nearby, we stopped at the La Brea Tar Pits 
. Before dropping Gracie off at LAX for her flight, we ended our driving tour in Beverly Hills where our fugly Taurus made the rounds through the streets and streets of hella expensive houses. Out of all the homes in that star map... we think we saw Jack Palance's old house. Heh. We suck, yo.
We had an hour to kill after dropping off Gracie and before having dinner. J and I decided to tempt fate and the afternoon L.A. traffic by driving to Venice Beach. As expected, we got there, waved hi to the beach, and headed back for dinner and to catch our flight. And for the first time (ok, one out of two, really), I actually slept through most of the redeye flight on the way back. Granted, not having someone in the middle seat rubbing arms and legs with me helped a lot.
And that was the great J/Pooh/Gracie do Disney trip. J and I had a moment when we returned the car. We were such saps when it came to that Neverlost... even though we actually did get lost... twice. Once on our way back from Long Beach because it told us to make a left turn into our destination even though we were nowhere near our hotel, and another time because... well... just because... and I'm not quite sure it was entirely the Neverlost's fault. *whistles innocently* la la la... But oh oh oh! I drove in L.A.! All weekend! Yay! I hate driving, especially places I've never driven before, so this is a huge accomplishment. AND I was a good driver (shut up, I only got screwed up by one or two yields and stop signs when we were in Long Beach, but totally not my fault! we... umm... don't have those in Jersey... yeah, that's it!)
Okay. NOW I'm done. The end.
J called to ask what she needed to pack. (Heh. Calling me to ask about packing. lmfao) Jen called to say she had finally made it to Pasadena. And Pooh felt all responsible and stuff, calling to check up on flights and car rentals and other annoying phone calls. And then it was time to enjoy PoohDay.
waiting for their really expensive movie (NOT... that kind of movie) to come on. Which was REALLY stupid because Pooh almost fell asleep in the middle of it.
agreed on the bed. Did I mention it was ridiculously huge? Sorry... I don't get out much. :P Btw, the most evil thing I did to myself on this trip was calling the credit card company beforehand to inform them I was going to go on a trip and to ignore any exorbitant charges I might accidentally put on the card. Yeah... really bad idea because the hotel bill? Umm... I might have gone just a teeny eeny itty bitty crazy that night. Oops. But it was PoohDay, so whatever.
is not champagne. It's a fugly, sea-foamy, pukey green. Bleh. BUT it had the biggest trunk ever. I could have brought all the stuffed animals and put them in there... and thrown TheKiefer in there with room to spare. In all fairness to me... it's been YEARS since I last drove a Taurus. That said, it was totally not my fault that I was a complete goober and couldn't figure out how to adjust the seat or find the trunk release or figure out how to turn on the headlights. Or that every time I went to switch gears, I kept reaching down by my leg instead of up by the steering wheel. I'm too used to my Civic, dammit! (shaddup, no laughing. And we won't get into how now in my Civic, I keep trying to switch gears up by the steering wheel and not by my leg. GRRRR! I swear, I'm such a freak.)
Dude! I'm so glad J and I decided to splurge on it. Best $8/day EVA! (Also, gotta love that AAA discount. Rowr!) The first time we took it out for a test drive, both J and Gracie couldn't take their eyes off the damn thing. Hee. We were so in lurve with it, I'm thinking about marrying it. Now I may need to get a GPS system for my car. Because of that thing, the drive to Anaheim was a cinch and took no time at all. Okay, traffic wasn't too bad, which helped although I will rant that people in L.A. still need to learn how to drive. I can't count how many times we ran into a sea of brake lights and the next minute, traffic was speeding by at 80mph. People sure are brake-happy around here.
(ignore the random people in the pic). Friday afternoon and hardly any waits anywhere. Every amusement park should be like that. Because there were only 5 minute waits for 90% of the rides, we obviously had to go on as many of them as possible. First stop: the Indiana Jones Adventure. 
.
. Dude. Tigger totally tried to cop a feel. When he pulled me into a hug... I don't think the way he was rubbing my arm was an entirely Disney-rated thing for him to do. Kinda explains his... bounce. J ended up warning him before she'd take her picture with him. Me? Secretly, it was kinda nice to get some action at Disney. Heh. Luckily, they were rotating through PoohBears at that moment so we got the more fun Pooh and not that PunkassPooh. After all, Pooh can't go to Disney and not take a pic with Pooh. 
. Also took a pic with Eeyore, but that one came out crappy so none of you get to see it. Ha!
liked to remind everyone. Except for maybe two or three celebs, it was a bit underwhelming. Then again, we didn't get to see Kirk Cameron because his bit was scheduled for late Sunday, damn him. The best part of the Preview Weekend: lines for all the rides were really short because everyone else was busy stalking celebrities. To be fair, the rides that were there were okay. Some were pretty good. And we had fun with what was offered. The park is just... small... and doesn't have much to offer, which is why it falls under the general category of suckdom. Not that it should stop anyone from visiting. I'm all for making at least one visit to DL/CA (to um, fully appreciate Orlando, lol).
But did I mention it was pretty much the only roller coaster there? Okay, there might have been another one, but it was small. Due to medical reasons (yes, that's it), we did not attempt the TWilight Zone Tower of Terror.
had her picture taken with Mushu 
. And we rode the Sunwheel. 
Wussies that we were, we only rode the non-swinging gondolas. The two freaky girls in the swinging gondola behind us, however, were standing up and actively rocking theirs. Eep. We got to see the park from above 
... and the more obsessive fanpeople lining up for the celebs 
... and got a nice view of Disneyland 
(still miffed about Space Mountain being closed).
Yay, Mickey! But boo and hiss to the freaky weird tans Gracie and I got from standing outside all day. *kicks J for pre-tanning before the trip so hers wasn't quite as noticeable* I blame J, of course. She's been trying to get me out in the sun to get some color for months. And what happens? Icky sleeve lines and because I was wearing a V-neck shirt (shut up!), I had a nice triangle tan on my chest. Dude. Not cool. Also not cool: a faint tan of my necklace in the center of triangle tan. Seriously.Not.Cool. (Don't laugh, dammit! This is going to screw with the hoochie clothes I planned to wear in Vegas for my sugardaddy hunt. *sob*)
ended up getting hit on by some drunk guys on a boat while I was busy trying to figure out directions with Jennifer over the phone (huh. it's like deja vu). Sadly, Jennifer and Jerome (dude, what's up with all the 'J' names?) didn't have a GPS system because they got lost lost lost lost. Oh, they had directions from the roomie, but after our last trip out here, she should have known that those directions would help... not so much. People there and directions don't mix, apparently. They ended up calling the restaurant and some guy there told them to go all the way to the end of the 710 and then drive towards the water to get there. Sure, sounds easy... until you realize that the end of the 710? Water on three sides. lmfao. But they finally got there and looked oh so cute 
. Happy cute couples make me sick, yo.
... found a good view of the Hollywood sign 
... paid a buttload of money to park for half an hour so we could check out the Kodak Theater 
and the Chinese Theater 
. We did a bit of cheesy shopping while we were in the area. J's addicted to LL Cool J and lucky bitca found one of those "real" celeb pics of him in one of those stores. We tried to find one of JG for our friend Freeman, but alas, were disappointed. Guess she's not as big a star as everyone makes her out to be. Heh. Also grabbed a star map for shits and giggles... and of course, loaded up on fizzies (J's cutesy term for soda. not mine, cuz I don't drink soda *blink blink*) for the rest of our tour. We did the obligatory drive down Rodeo Drive but didn't bother to get out. We already know we can't afford anything there so why rub it in, right? And because it was nearby, we stopped at the La Brea Tar Pits 
. Before dropping Gracie off at LAX for her flight, we ended our driving tour in Beverly Hills where our fugly Taurus made the rounds through the streets and streets of hella expensive houses. Out of all the homes in that star map... we think we saw Jack Palance's old house. Heh. We suck, yo.