ickaimp: (Default)
Okay, so, like, for the first time in SIX WEEKS I am completely, utterly, totally ALONE.

*CACKLES HYSERICALLY*

... except for the cats.

*sighs* It's only for a half hour, then I go help friends. But still! Alone time! Alone! Wheeeeee!!!!! (not that we don't love spending time with friends, but... yeah. -alone- time. ^__^)

So. Has anyone seen my pencils?

Um... People we met and promised art to:

[livejournal.com profile] yume_no_kage: Four Horsewomen of the Apocolypse.
[livejournal.com profile] joisbishmyoga: ... I can't remember...
[livejournal.com profile] dogmatix_san: Pr0n ficcage.
[livejournal.com profile] kosaginolegion: Train/Creed art. (need to finish shading, 95% done)
Partner in Crime: ????
[livejournal.com profile] candy__chan: Cute Kaito/Aoko (sketched)
[livejournal.com profile] socchan: Think we promised you fic instead-?
[livejournal.com profile] fyliwionvilyaer: Kid/Hakuba & handcuffs. (sketched)
[livejournal.com profile] ytak: Hakuba and Tamaki
[livejournal.com profile] wmchichiri: ... I can't remember...
[livejournal.com profile] wren_chan: I don't think you said...
[livejournal.com profile] jheen: We owe you two, and I don't think you've said what yet.
[livejournal.com profile] ciceqi: Tentacle something
[livejournal.com profile] btailweaver: Um... something out of your ficcage-?
[livejournal.com profile] poe_nui: ... I can't remember...
[livejournal.com profile] tdei ?????

Anyone / Any art I've forgotten? Please remind me!!!

And we still owe [livejournal.com profile] ladyorla and [livejournal.com profile] sakurazuka_jae art from when we were in NZ. Still need reference material from Lady Orla.

-we leave for the Grand Canyon tomorrow, afterwhich, the roadtrip is officially over. ^^;;
ickaimp: (Default)
Made it back to Tucson, safe and sound. Had a bit of a sloth day yesterday, sat around watching the entirety of Yu-Gi-Oh! the Abridged Series while attempting to unpack and and do laundry. And discover how melted the chocolates were. ^^;;

Spent a wonderful day in downtown LA with Tdei and Daniel, a friend of hers who was flying back to England the next day. Wandered around the Flower, Textile and Fashion districts, going ga-ga over the fabrics. *purrrrrrs* Had lunch in Little Tokyo as well and dragged everyone to my favourite temple down there to get our fortunes read. Evidently this is a very good time for childbirth for me. *snerks*

Went back to Torrance to show Daniel my old school, where they shot Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Was amusing to watch him go into fangasams as he recgonised places where they had shot various scenes. Buffy's house is around there as well, unfortunately I don't know the address/exact location, so was unable to show people that.

Stopped by the Book Off again and watched people go nuts. Again.

Allie and Mati went to Tdei's house to spend the night and I spent a quiet evening at my Folk's house. My sister and her husband, kid and dog had gone elsewhere for the night and my brothers were out as well. Unfortunately, my stepmom's under a massive amount of stress and this made me an easy target to take it out on. *sighs* I can't win. I'm an 'inconvience' if I drop by, then she wonders why I don't stop by for years at a time... *grrr*

So spent the night over at my youngest sister's place rather than start fights. Spent the day with her until Mati and Allie got back to Torrance. Which, due to their own adventures, was kinda late. Dad called me up just as they got back, inviting me out to a Father/Daughter meal, which I had to regretfully decline cause we were leaving. ;_; *emo*

It took us 9 hours to Tucson, which isn't bad really. Got here at 2am. And! We found some more Yu-Gi-Oh! figurines. >D I now have Yuugi-oh, Jounouchi and Kaiba stuck in a bubble together. Is like a magic 8-ball three some porn generator. ^__________^

So Allie leaves today (woe) and on Friday we head to the Grand Canyon (yay). Have gotten Allie hooked on 'From Eroica with Love'. *cackles manically* I think her brain broke on the underwear thing. ^__________^
ickaimp: (PervyKaitouFancier)
People don't believe me sometimes when I say I came from a large household.

Current roster under my Folk's roof tonight:

Me.
Allie.
Mati.
My Dad.
My Gigi.
Aunt Debbie.
Nephew.
Niece.
Younger Brother, unexpectedly arrived from San Diego.
Youngest Brother.
Next Youngest Sister.
Next Youngest Sister's Husband.
Next Youngest Sister's under a year old Daughter.

My Folk's Three Dogs --including new puppy--, Younger Brother's puppy, Next Youngest Sister's puppy, Next Youngest Sister's two cats.
The puppies are all siblings, American Bulldog/Aussie Shepard mix. Five months old and act like they haven't a brain. Big sweeties tho.

All we need now is Older Sister, her Boyfriend and her other two kids and my Youngest Sister and we'd have a full house reunion. ^^;; (and people wonder why I'm an introvert...)

Think we're staying at [livejournal.com profile] tdei's house tomorrow night. Meeting her tomorrow in Downtown LA for lunch and wanders. Yay!!!

Had a good time at 'Neechan's this afternoon before heading down here. Introduced Mati and Allie to Kyoei Treasures, the local Kimono shop and to the nearby Book Off -a used manga shop. Lost them for a while there. *snerks*
I got Magic Kaitou Volume 4 for $3!!! *Squeeeeeeee*

And now the LA air takes it's toll and I'm gonna go crash. Later!
ickaimp: (Default)
So yesterday, we went to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum & Planetarium.

Good museum, lots of good information.

Stupid people. Allie ended up with people following her, despite the fact that she was wearing a Pirate shirt, who were convinced that she worked there because she actually bothered to read the information presented.

I just ended up with an idiot who thought it was funny to pick Akhenatum's nose. ~_~

At least the Peace Gardens are pretty. Except for the part where Po'e managed to get a sprained ankle, while wandering around. >_<

Today we headed down to 'Neechan's house, where we're crashing tonight. Went out to dinner at In-And-Out and ended up sitting there for hours discussing stuff that scared people to the other side of the building.

Allie's currently playing the ending part of Kingdom Hearts II, so Mati can understand the story better.

I keep going WTF with Riku. He stands like L from Death Note, and it looks like something is wrong with his left arm, he carries it protectively and there's a bandage on it.
... and either he's lost some weight or he took a dump in his pants...

And Sora's got a bright yellow 'X' in the centre of his butt. *snerks*

The tag teams are amusing however. Allie keeps cussing cause Sora and Riku wanna hold each other to fight the baddies.

So now we've got kitties currling up on us and we're heading to sleep. Heading to my Folks' house tomorrow. Ni-night.
ickaimp: (Default)
Tezuka Osamu on Manga:
"Manga is Virtual
Manga is Sentimental
Manga is Resistance
Manga is Masterbation
Manga is Bizzare
Manga is Pathos
Manga is Destruction
Manga is Arrogance
Manga is Love
Manga is Kitsch
Manga is Sense of Wonder
Manga is ...

There is no Conclusion Yet."


-from an interview with a newspaper in 1969.

I want that on a shirt. ^_____^

After arriving in San Rafael, went down to Peir 39 and Fisherman's Wharf for dinner (clam chowder! yum!) and then wandered down to Ghirardelli Square for dessert and watch them make chocolate. Not to worry, Ysabet. I'm bringing back souveniers. ~_^

*Wind picks up as we walk down the street*
*Icka! holds skirt down as it threatens to thwap her in the head*

Icka!: Stop it, Skirt! You're supposed to be hide my tentacles!!!
*Little boy walking ahead of the group turns and stares with wide eyes*

Also met the Bushman of San Fran who was quite amusing.

Yesterday was spent at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. They have a Tezuka exibit at the moment, which is where the above quote was found. Spent a while wandering their permanent exibt, where I got into a conversation with one of the security guards. Found a statue of Krishna dancing with a Star of David in the background. It turns out that it's also a common symbol in Krishna, but as a representation of oppisites.

I commented that I didn't have a camera when I started sketching, and he said:

"You have the best camera. You have beautiful eyes, and a warm heart to store all in."

Which is a comment that I thought needed to be shared. *warm fuzzies to artists!* We later got into a discussion about art and how capturing the essance of the moment or emotion is more immportant than getting the anatomy right. (his comment, I just gawked, cause I still don't think my RL sketches are good)

Another good exibit was the Yoshitoshi one. Espeically loved his 'Hundred Ghost Stories' ones, which often were comedic. Such as the ghost making faces to the near-sighted old man, who couldn't see them

Currently spending time with Po'e and the Bratling, whom I haven't seen in years. Bratling is as cute as a button and is a happy child. ^__^ And then we're heading to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum & Planetarium in a little while, to watch Mati geek out.
ickaimp: (PervyKaitouFancier)
Okay! Sooooo..... we didn't quite make it to San Fran, we're just a short hop across a body of water from there.

We stayed with Becky Tailweaver for a couple of days and got to meet her family. They've got Horses!! *kyaaaa* and sheep and goats and a dog and cats. And a dog. Sweetie of an old dog. >D And we stayed up late talking and exchanging anime episodes. Much fun.

Hey, Ysabet and Morgan? Whaddya think about moving to Oregon? *waggles eyebrows* Kinda reminds me of NZ in some ways, just got a very comfortable feeling around the area. And sheep!!! ^_______________^

And! We got to go to 'Emerald City' in Eugene, which is the local Comic/Anime/Manga/Gamer/Geek hang out. Missed [livejournal.com profile] lazulisong by about an hour, but got to meet her sister [livejournal.com profile] vampireborg and Ms [livejournal.com profile] whytekitten, whom we kinda recongised from Y-con. Had fun talking/geeking out with them.

Currently at a friend of Allie's, staying at her house which evidently was an engineer and new architect's baby. We're literally in a dungeon, and there's antique stained glass and strange round shapes and just all sorts of bizzare house things like the hall way that goes no where. And it's all built into the side of a hill. Like, open a side door and there's no wall, there's hill. Just wow. Great veiw of the city too.

Everyone's got such interesting houses... I feel all boring now. ^^;;

Think the current time table is we're spending today (dinner at Fisherman's Wharf!), tomorrow and Wed, in San Fran/San Jose and saying hello to Po'e and the bratling, then heading down to Los Angeles to visit my folks, 'Neechan and hang out with Tdei. Allie's gotta get back to Ohio, so we're currently looking at flying her out of Tucson on the 25th, so we should be back in Arizona by then. *yay! my floor! >^.^<*

And Ysabet, I'm glad you got my postcard. ~_^ And yes, I'm sure notifying you that I am wearing clean underwear amused the post office employees as well. *cackles*

[livejournal.com profile] impfics: Guard Dog: New Agreements
ickaimp: (Default)
So we made the drive from Arco, Idaho to Craters of the Moon in good time this morning.

Must admit, out of all the National Parks we've been to, was kinda dissapointed in this one the most. For one thing, there aren't many craters, and there's lots of vegetation. Evidently, this changes in the seasons, we just hit the growing period.

But what it is, is a volcanic eruption about 2,000 years ago. Which, is kinda cool to look at, because you don't expect to find lava flow or rocks covering large areas of mainland America, you expect it someplace like Hawai'i. You see lots of it along the Snake River, then it goes back to shrub/grasslands.

-the Volcano has since moved underneath Yellowstone Caldera. Boom, baby.

Then we drove to Portland, Oregon. About 609mi/980km, not including getting lost. Was expecting to stop somewhere before Portland to sleep, but it didn't happen.

We did pass under the Bridge of the Gods, however. ^^;;

Gonna go fall over now, we're all tired and cranky.

Have somehow managed to add "There is no Honour with out Pie" to the running roadtrip running jokes, along with "Hail Eris!", "Falling Roxas! Roxas! Roxas! Roxas!" and, of course, the various types of deathss. ^_____^

Up next: Hanging out with Becky Tailweaver. (she does live!) All Hail Evil Twin!!! Then down to San Fran. ^^

Voice Post

Jun. 13th, 2007 10:44 pm
ickaimp: (Default)


... this would have been a lot funnier if we'd actually had decent cell phone reception. ~_~
Not drunk, just having fun.
ickaimp: (Default)
We left Wren and Gen down in Colorado Springs, CO and made our way up to Yellowstone safely. Spent the night in Thermopolis at a really nice little motel that reminded me of most of the places we stayed at in NZ. Mom and Pop places really are the best.

Debated about having a sleep in there, but changed our minds and went to Yellowstone yesterday.

Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig park.

We saw Old Faithful, wandered around, cursed the skies for sprinkling and marveled over the lodge's carpet cleaning device, a tiny squirrel that sneaks in and steals the crumbs.

Saw Bison and Elk, and suddenly realising that yeah. You CAN ride elk. They're that big.
... is one thing to hear about it, another thing to actually SEE them.

Have also discovered that apparently I have been converted to Discordianism as "Hail Eris!!!" has replaced 'Oh, Shyte' in my vocabluary. Often to Mati and Allie's amusement.

We ended up getting an upgrade in the motel we've been staying at in West Yellowestone evidently due to the fact that we're a bunch of giggling twits.
Or the fact that we came in last night having a hard time finding a decently priced place to stay, gleefully announced that we loved the cabin the owner showed us, but the 'Shadow Pines' place across the street scared the crap out of us and we wanted to check it out because of that.
... we did. And gawked at the giant elk head that stared at us as we walked in the front, with it's mouth open. Or the thick-accented person at the front desk. Or the collection of various skulls decorating the building across the street. It looks like something out of a cheesy murder mystery.
-the motel owner here refers to us as 'The Happy Travelers'. ^^;;

The plunnies have been fruitful and multiplying, Allie's main fandom is Kingdom Hearts, Mati's is Yu-Gi-Oh and mine is Magic Kaito. So far we've gotten quite well along discussing KH/HP, KH/SG1, KH/YGO, MK/YGO and various other plots.

... and Mati is currently drawing Yuugi and Yuugi on Jounouchi to get me to write Yuugi/Jounouchi/Yuugi pron later as Allie attempts to explain how Yuugi-oh would be kicked out of offical tournaments for cheating. Is fun.

Up next is sleep, laundry and Craters of the Moon. Hail Hypnos!

[livejournal.com profile] impfics: Danny Phantom - Snapshots 4/?
ickaimp: (Default)
So yesterday, we drove up from Carlsbad to Colorado Springs, Colorado.

It was a pretty good drive, and we got stopped twice for construction. Which would have been a downer if we hadn't gotten into a debate about the rules of hopscotch and ended up asking the girl holding the stop sign what she remembered the rules as, her being a neutral party.

Nothing like a healthy dose of insanity.

Today we hung out with [livejournal.com profile] jheen and went to Manitou Springs, which is a bit of an artsty-town. Had good pizza at 'Marilyn's Pizza', which was decorated by Marilyn Monroe pictures everywhere. And stumbled upon a showing of homoerotic and tastefully done male nudes in the basement of an antiques store. *chuckles* I found *gasp!* some dark jade rings. *drools*
-so hard to find dark jade. *purrrrs* *pets the dark green and black jade* Mati and Wren got some too.

Got to taste some of the natural spring water that gave Manitou Springs it's name. Kinda fizzy.

Then we went to the Garden of the Gods and looked around. And played the crazy Kaitou being chased by Detectives as we jumped from red rock to red rock. (I didn't get caught! Nyah)

Still find it amusing that it was orginally 'Beer Garden of the Gods'. ^_______^

And currently, we're teasing Allie about doing weird things to Gen's dog. Hahahaha.

Tomorrow, we're heading up towards Yellowstone, and I'm going to try to get rid of this stupid minor cold I got from Mati so I don't end up zombie walking again. Blargh.

[livejournal.com profile] impfics Detective Conan: Crazy Aunty Icka's Short Stories - Powering Up
ickaimp: (Default)
I LUUUUUURVE New Mexico. I don't care what state I was actually born in, New Mexico will prolly always be my home state.

-that said, last night, picking up supplies at WalMart, I got greeted to the state, cause I obviously wasn't from around here. *face palm* (granted, i get the same thing in los angeles, despite my having lived there for 20+ years, but it does get old after a while)

Carlsbad Caverns )

Detective Conan Fandom Related:
Kaizou is celebrating 1 year, and so the Detective Conan Translation Project just released six things today. OVA 7, episodes 238-239 (Osaka 3K, from vol 29), episodes 240-241 (bombs on the shinkansen, Sato & Takagi, vol 30) and a two-hour special, episode 263 (Heiji's first stand alone case, with Okita, vol 31), which is very much yay.
Check their tracker for torrent listings.
ickaimp: (Default)
WE GOTS GLOMPED BY TWO KAITOU KIDS!!!!

... and glomped two Kaitou Kids too. ^______________^

Got to A-kon about noonish, Allie wandered off to volunteer and Mati and I met up with a group of Yu-Gi-Oh! cosplayers that she was doing art commisions for. So we went out to get food at the 'Plaza of America'.

Food okay.

Entertainment, excellent:

Final Fantasy VII - Turks on Ice.

There's an ice skating ring in the centre of the plaza where some small kids were getting lessons. Then the Turks decided to go ice skating around the edges. Rufus fell down, Rude was stotic, Tseng was a bit wobbily, Elena refused to let go of the rail and Reno showed off.
-I did sketches. ^________^

Then I realised that really didn't have anything to do, so I went to volunteer. And promptly got lost for 30-45 minutes trying to find the damn volunteer place because no one knew precisely where it was.
When I got there, I was informed that they did it that way on purpose, they didn't want people to know where it was. o_0;;

Then I got sent to reg, which was really the only accurate bit of information I got from "Volunteers Unlimited." *Growls* Am NOT at all amused by how they handled their volunteers. [/end rant]

So worked Reg until closing, stickering and laminating badges. Which was cool, cause I got to talk to Allie some, who had done the smart thing and just walked up to the busiest place and asked if they needed help. And promptly got put on staff. (which means she only needs to work 12 hours to earn her badge, while I have to work 16. The trade off is that she has more responsiblity. Also, staff adjusts time for not having been in the state on Thursday, Vol Unl does not. >P)

Also, this was right next to the broken/stopped escalator, so every time I looked up to see the costumes, I could see straight up any cosplayer wearing tiny little skirts. Whom there were a lot of. Sailor Pluto's undies were nice and white, as Kaito would say.

AND!!! Speaking of Kaito, I got to meet [livejournal.com profile] ytak, who does an awesome Kaitou Kid and [livejournal.com profile] fyliwionvilyaer who is very very cute as a lolita style Kaitou Kid. XD XD XD Fyliwionvilyaer is just so very cute. And tomorrow, she does a lolita style Hakuba! *Squeees* Ytak is very classy as the Kid. ^_____^

Hee hee. Kid. Hee.

Other highlights included a nicely swaying Captian Jack --who always knew where he could find the rum-- people playing catch with an L plushie and conversation about who would win in a battle between the Naruto and Bleach Cosplayers.

And now we're curled up in Mati's room, listening to it pour outside and eating chocolate.

Tomorrow, I'm dressing up as a hippy B.ops member, although we may wear cat ears simply cause we can. Ta!

Oklahoma

May. 31st, 2007 12:20 am
ickaimp: (Default)
56%Mingle2 - Free Online Dating


Well, today has certainly had it's up and downs.

It was warm enough last night that I slept in a sports tank and pj pants without the usual night shirt. Woke up this morning to hear knocking. Stumbled to the door, open it and lean forward. "What?!"
Guy in hotel uniform pauses in knocking on the door next to us. He looks down, looks up, goes a little cross-eyed trying not to look down again. "Sa-Sorry."
There's a 'whoa' from down the hall.
I shut the door, lock it, stumble off back to sleep. The guy resumes knocking next door, adding 'housekeeping' to the sound. Eh. Gave him a cheap thrill at least. ^^;;

When we woke up for real, went to the The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, which was a nice museum. Good Japanese and Chinese section. Think I'm starting to get casual about the Rennisance art and armour, this is the second museum we've been to that I just wander around going 'seen it, seen it, seen it'. The giant shuttlecocks were kind of amusing too.

Two of the exibits had those fuzzy felt stickers that you put on the bottom of tables or chairs glued to the inside of the glass. Evidently people had kept walking into the glass, so they'd stuck them there to prevent it. *chuckles*

Unfortunately this was the day my period decided to start up. Not in the usual mellow way, but in one of those 'I hate being female' days. *sighs* i'm sure y'all needed to know that too

We attempted to eat lunch there, but the cafe had closed. We'd skipped breakfast to get there. >P But one of the cafe workers took pity on us when I asked if we could beg some bread and gave us a scone that they couldn't use, cause it was broken.

Massively good scone. *purrrrrrrs*

Museum decided to close an hour early, so we got out just as it decided raining. Which was kind of funny, since as we looked out the back door, it was almost impossible to tell the difference between the flat pond in the back and the sidewalk around it.

So got food, got on the road and started heading south. It was wet and rainy for a long time, then it calmed down and we had some gorgeous clouds. Mati and started talking about a YGO/SG-1 and then we got caught in a Speed Trap in Talala.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Turns out the whole city is locally known as a speed trap. But what gets me is that the cop said that we'd been driving 56mph in a 45mph zone. 55mph was the last posted speed limit we saw. We were pulled over outside of the city, in a 65mph zone after having evidently ignored the TWO 45mph signs that we never saw. ~_~

... if we wanna argue it, hafta be back in Oklahoma in June. *sigh*

So curled up in a hotel, mind kinda blank. Being highly paranoid about road signs currently. just because you're paranoid....

But hey, the Art Museum had glowing cones in the basement. ^_______^
ickaimp: (Default)
World's largest interlocking cave system. It's a World Heritage Site, like Nikko.

They have Sightless Fish!!!!! and Shrimp!!! We couldn't see them, cause they're underwater in the low caves.

We took the Historical Tour first, seeing how they pulled calcium nitrate of the caves to make Salt Petre for gunpowder for the war of 1812. (the guide was made a comment about how it wasn't for the gunpowder, they wouldn't have chased the British away and we'd be driving on the wrong side of the road and talking funny. Icka looks down at the Union Jack shirt she's wearing and wonders what's wrong with that.)

It was a nice walk through the caves, although it seems like Allie and I were the only ones who remembered that caves have a mummifying effect and brought water. Then we took a slight break and went and took the 'Frozen Niagara Falls/New Entrance Tour'.

That one is rated very stressful, is over 300 stairs down. I liked that one the best, but we also had a smaller group, so it was better. It also has more interesting formations.

We then headed to Evansville, Indiana to crash at Mati's grandfather's house. I felt bad, he thought there was only going to be two people, instead there were four. We got lost on the way there, which is when three of us got punch drunk silly about it and had just started to find our way back when one one got snippy and angry and threw a hissy fit (grrrr). Turns out that the turn we needed was -before- the town, about the point we almost ran over a deer.

Whoops. ^^;;
ickaimp: (Default)
Guh. Brain dead. Crashed with Allie's folks for the night.

So evidently the The Children's Museum of Indianapolis is one of the world's largest Children's Museums.

... boy, can we feel it.

Ran around like little kids, which amused the staff. First exibit we checked out was the Spymaster thing, where you ran around doing various activities (dress up in costume, hacking, defusing bombs, petting the large angry kitty in a box) to get the passwords to decode more information to prevent Oscorp from releasing a virus that will destroy the wireless networks.

Then there were dinosaurs, and the 'Dracorex Hogwartsia' skull, the only one of it's kind. (it's a real dinosaur, btw)

They have a really cool glass display, it's called 'Fireworks of Glass', but it really looks like drunk tentacles. With the occasional random cupid.

There was also the Eygptian mummy in the 'What If' room. Real mummy. Wow. Although we thought that the jewelry was wrong. Something about shiny pearlesant beads in Ancient Egypt.

Then we went and rode the antique carasol in the top floor. Love Carasols. We got to ride three times because there was no line.

We were gonna head to lunch and ended up heading into the science area and playing with the water flow things, then went over to the map of the local waterways and tried to flood Indianapolis. *Cackles* Was fun.

So while everyone else was in the Gift Shop, I got lost looking at dinosaur bones and had to run back. ^^;; whoops.

Then on the way back to Allie's house before heading towards Kentucky when we realised that gas prices had suddenly risen from $3.27 to $3.58 in the space it had taken us to drive the museum and back.

Starting to re-work the trip to save on gas milage due to that gas prices will prolly reach about $4 a gallon before too long. (and the ones from out of the States point and laugh. ^^;; )
ickaimp: (Default)
Currently posting from a Panera Bread shop, they have free wi-fi. Huzzah!

So yesterday we just kinda slept. Late. And boy did we need it.

Then Jo's Dad made us breakfast. Has Jo mentioned lately that her Dad does gourmet cooking as a hobby? Yeah. *purrrs* French toast with nutmeg for breakfast, then buffalo burgers on portabello mushrooms with gouda cheese on top. >^.^<

So bellies stuffed and full, we promptly got lost in downtown Columbus and wandered around in circles until we found... bum... bum... BAAAAAAA!!! The Book Loft.
I thought our local Arizona Bookman's was cool. Used books, friendly place, cheap.
The Book Loft started out as a single room. Then started expanding and taking over the various rooms around it, until it was a twisted maze of rooms. In order to get to the bottom east section, where the kids books are, you must go up a flight of stairs, through several rooms and down a larger flight of stairs, then turn left. XD XD XD
Is most awesome.

We have decided, that we match up with the Saiyuki guys. I am Goyjo, becaues I have long red hair and something about perverted comments... Mati is Hakkai, the driver, Allie is Goku due to getting lost in Walmart looking for large quanities of beef jerky and Jo is Sanzo because.... well... *leaving it there before Jo can swat me with her fan*

Today we drove from Columbus, OH to Indianapolis, IN because our travel plans kinda got thrown out the window. On the way, we stopped and saw a concrete feild of corn, which we molested and took pictures of.

Then stopped by Allie's parent's house after several hours of driving, stopped by an art store so that I can start a travel sketch journal (decided to treat this part of the country as if it's a foregin country) and stopped by Fry's electronics for stuff.

And then found a Yu-Gi-Oh! Bubble Toy machine on the way out. After much squeeing, we dug around for quarters and started feeding the machine. We got a Seto, a Yuugi, a BEWD, a Jounouchi and a Seto. So we all now have YGO characters in bubbles and are cackling about it.

Tomorrow we go Children's Museum of Indianapolis to run around like little kids before being on the road again.

As Mati just pointed out, she's been on the road for 4 days, I've been on the road for 6 days. @_@ Whoa.

[livejournal.com profile] impfics: TGZ Mid-West snippets: Payback
ickaimp: (Default)
We have gotten lost no less than seven times today. Prolly closer to ten times.

*Icka Starts Talking About Saguru being Jealous over Kaito in an TGA chapter WIP.*
*Radio Starts singing 'Hey, Jealousy'.*

Icka! & Mati: ....
Icka!: ... I have told you about my radio karma, right?
Mati: No?
Icka! *points to radio*: That.

This has continued throughout the trip, songs either following local landmarks or lyrics following the conversation. (as Icka's typing: "where's your story, where ya going?") Other really good one was Elton John's 'Benny and the Jets' as planes take off next to us as we're driving past an airport. [Edit: Passing by Mt. Zion Rd "What if God was One of Us?"]

The songs that are following us are Smashmouth's 'All Star' and Third Eye Blind 'Semi-Chamred Kinda Life'. Highly amused by this.

Icka!: What does it say that we're on a Country Music channel and I'm not inclined to change it?
Mati: That we've been in the South too long.
Icka!: ... Right.
*leaves the channel playing*

-We're noticing that we get more country stations the future north we get. The accent and polite hostility of strangers (although the ladies at the Cave Town Farmer's Market were sweethearts) seems to increase the closer we get to the Mason-Dixon line. Waiting to see how it gets in Ohio.

Cannot get over how green it is here. Yeah, okay, been living in Tucson for a while now where the palette is kind of muted, but there's just like TREES everywhere. It's not as green as the South Island of NZ, but it's close. Different greens, there is more Green-Yellow here, rather than Green-Blue. Kinda neat seeing the granite rock next to the sides of the road. Way cool, neat texture too.

We keep running into odd city names, like Warsaw, Sparta, England, Verona, Lebenon, Sonora. It's kinda like a mini-world tour. On a water tower: 'FLORENCE, Y'ALL'

We also ended up driving past this Giant Jesus.

Then we had lunch with [livejournal.com profile] kosaginolegion and Partner in Crime, which rocked. I need to draw more Black Cat now. >D

Got lost on the way to [livejournal.com profile] joisbishmyoga's place, Jo ended up having to talk us through the freeway system and [livejournal.com profile] yume_no_kage walked to the end of the street to direct us from there.

And then we stayed up until three am talking. ^^;;

G'night!
ickaimp: (Default)
Texas is really really big. And then you hit Arkansas. And yay! Another state.

We stopped for lunch in Hope, Arkansas. Wandered around a bit, found a Sonic's to eat at. It didn't really hit me that we were in the South until I asked where the bathroom was and the girl answered in this drawling southern accent. #^^#
I finished eating first and decided to go for a walk around the blond while Mati was finishing eating, cause I liked the local architecture, including one with a big tower that totally rocked. Then I turned the corner to get back on the street that the Sonic's is on and there's a sign right in front of me.
"First Home of President William Jefferson Blythe Clinton, 42nd President of the Untied States of America."
....
Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii.
^^;;

Continued on, went over a HUUUUUGE bridge and whoa! Memphis.
And there's a giant glass pyramid over on our left. Still don't know what that was for.
Avoided Graceland, continued on.

And then it hit me that we're going to Nashville. NASHVILLE. Home of the Country Music Hall of Fame Nashville. Grand Ole Opry Nashville. @_@.

We went anyway and finally found Chip & Co's house, whom I haven't seen in ages and ages. They're doing well, I'm glad to see. They took us on a quick driving tour of downtown Nashville, including the thing that is prolly gonna set the bar for cool things on the trip.

A full sized finished replica of the Parthenon.
Yeah.
Like the one in Greece.
Only not damaged and you can walk right up to it and whoa. It's both bigger and smaller than expected but just massively cool. It's in Centennial Park, which evidently is the first park in the States to be completely wired for free wi-fi. And it's NOT a small park. ^___^

From there we drove around downtown Nashville, saw the interesting buildings (including the Batman towers, which are really the phone company but look like Batman's cowl), the CMT building, neat churches and a bright green wiggling glowing tentacle monster that everyone said was happy to see me but was really a stage in the middle of the street.

Then we stayed up late talking music with Chip. ^___________^ Which we could really use the sleep now, but was massive fun to get to talk with Chip and Co again.
ickaimp: (Default)
Okay, I lie. It was 20 hours on a bus, because we had an hour layover in El Paso Texas.

BTW? Ysabet in full-blown Mommy-mode is amusing. And a life-saver. Thanks, Ysabet. As promised, checking in.

The way out of Tucson was kinda interesting, kept seeing flashes of light that I thought were either tricks of the light or halucinations. Kept watching anyway.
Then we had a small break in Lordsburg, New Mexico. And there was rain in the wind.
Then it started to rain.
Then after I got woken up sometime around dawn by Border Patrol, who wanted to see everyone's IDs and then hauled one guy away, there was snow on the ground.
Which grew into more snow. And puddles. Large puddles, as I found out while getting tossed around in the tiny lav. ~_~

... TGZ plunnies started biting hard too. *sighs* Although the TGA meets Guard Dog plunnie was amusing.

Anyway, currently at Mati's house feeling completely stoned and showing each other porn and pretty pictures.

BTW? Curse you Ysabet, I've got that damn lyric "He tastes like you only sweeter" stuck in my head the entire damn trip.

ROAD TRIP ITINERARY.
(aka proof that we are completely utterly totally nutters)


[Proof that Icka is Tired:]
tdei .::fiat lux::. says:
...omg. what does USGS mean?!
i saw that acronym on my midterm today... well, i know it has to do with gasoline, but...

Icka!: PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE PLUNNIES. says:
Untied States Gas Supply?

[livejournal.com profile] impfics: Danny Phantom - Snapshots 3/?
ickaimp: (Default)
Right. Massive Road Trip O' Doom starts Tomorrow.
Bus leaves at 8pm, we'll be passing through Lordsburg, El Paso, Van Horn, Odessa, Abilene and Ft Worth before finally arriving at Dallas at about 6pm. @_@

First time taking the bus, ought to be fun.

Currently poking around downloading huge epic fanfics to read while travelling. Just grabbed all of the 'Stealing Harry' by [livejournal.com profile] sam_storyteller and working on getting Cartographer's Craft' now. Ysabet gave us all of [livejournal.com profile] domino_effect_ to read, so we've got Yu-Gi-Oh! AU as well. Have some of [livejournal.com profile] malador_gw's Gundam stuff as well, but we're a fast reader and still poking at ficcage to read. Anyone have any other long fic suggestions?

*pokes at art!plunnies while we're at it, just to see if any pictures will fall out*

*yawns* Gods, this is a draining day. Slightly annoyed at currency exchange place. If the NZD/USD current exchange rate is $.73NZD to the US dollar, why are they buying at $.65 and selling for $.85? Argh.

Eh. Too much walking around in bloody hot weather.

*wants to read or write, but falls over instead*

Profile

ickaimp: (Default)
Icka! M. Chif

October 2020

S M T W T F S
    123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
252627282930 31

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 11th, 2025 08:55 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios