21

Went and saw the movie 21 today with Chris and Jeff from dancing. Not a bad movie, and once they explained to me what a "hot" or "cold" deck was, I understood it a bit better :-P
A fairly accurate review:

21 is the story of Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess), a promising M.I.T. student who needs money to get into Harvard Medical School. To make ends meet (and against his better judgement) he joins a group of his fellow students, Jill Taylor (Kate Bosworth), Kianna (Liza Lapira), Choi (Aaron Yoo) and Fisher (Jacob Pitts) to go to Las Vegas every weekend with their math professor Mickey Rosa (Kevin Spacey) to “beat the house” by counting cards while playing blackjack. Fascinating stuff and if the movie would have kept the focus on the characters and how they beat the system, it would have been so much better. But instead it put its focus on how this master group basically did the most cliched things possible in Vegas – riding in limos down the strip, hanging out with strippers and acting like pompous high rollers. Moreover, the way that director Robert Luketic decided to present this was predictable and boring, with the money making process being outlined through either stop motion video or some sort of epilepsy inducing flashes of cards. As I said earlier, this movie is completely Hollywood-ized in a way that really took me away from the story.

Best Friends & Cliff House

Went to a restaurant called the Cliff House for a late lunch with Romel, Erichs best friend and two of his work friends. VERY nice place, and great views. We were at the far end, corner window seating - gorgeous views!
The Cliff House has been completely rebuilt a number of times. The first Cliff House was built in 1863, and destroyed by fire on Christmas day 1894. The second Cliff House was built in 1896, survived the 1906 earthquake, but was destroyed by fire in 1907. The Third Cliff House was built in 1909. The rest of the afternoon was spent looking around a mall, sorting out insurance for Erich & his brothers' motorbikes, then dinner with the family.

Mall Power

Scheduled to go dancing again tonight, so decided to try working even more remotely than I have been this week.. Took the laptop to the Mall. Unfortunately it had a flat battery and the power outlets there needed a three-pin plug, not a two pin one, so I wasn't able to get anything done there. We decided to try other places but settled on dropping me off at the library where I found the book I'm reading at home and waited for Erich to pick me up again. After a couple of hours Erich picked me up again and we went for lunch which was delicious, and some Ice Cream at Ben and Jerry's - also very tasty! In the afternoon I was allowed in to Erich's work where I could plug in the laptop and work from their lunchroom.
Went to dancing in the evening, had a lot of fun - and I think I'm improving!

Air New Zealand to San Francisco

Finally got everything together, bags packed, ticket in hand ready to head back to San Francisco. The flight seemed extraordinarily long, and I was in the exact middle of the plane, so not much entertaining on the way. (the movies didn't look appealing either)
After a delay at customs in San Francisco where they decided to re-interview me, I was finally allowed in to the USA. Erich met me at there.
We drove home via a beautiful mountainous scenic route, like traveling in the Waitakeres.

I Have My Visa!

To my great surprise, my Passport with my visa arrived already! This means that I'm able to get all of the loose ends tied up and head back to California on Monday! (flights permitting)

Visa & Happy Birthday Bert!

I had an appointment booked for the American Consulate to get a visitors visa for Tuesday next week, but each day I've been phoning to see if there are any cancellations and today there WAS! So, with an hour an a half to make sure I had everything I needed, a quick trip to the shop to get something signed and a mad dash in to Auckland Central, I found myself in queue to get my handbag x-rayed and mobile phone held in a locker till I was done. Anyway, long story short, my Visa has been approved! It should arrive in the middle of next week, and, looking at Air New Zealand's website, if it arrives in time, I hope to depart to San Francisco on Thursday 27th.

It was Berts Birthday today and we had dinner with the family at Valentines Restaurant. Mmmmmmm seafood.


Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell. ~Edna St Vincent Millay

Beaver-like

Had a crazy busy day at the shop today, and I'm re-familiarising myself with the products there. Thank you all of those who've been so supportive and encouraging with my decision to head back to America and Erich as soon as I can. I'm so excited, I want to leave NOW but then I really would miss my appointment to get that visitors visa.

Did something silly today for the first time, I went to the supermarket without my money. LUCKILY I noticed before getting to the checkout chick and was able to leave my stuff at the service desk and dash back to work for it, but D'oh! I felt like a real wally.

Love reckons hours for months, and days for years; and every little absence is an age. ~John Dryden

Visitor Visas

I phoned the US Embassy today to get information on which sort of visa I'm best to get and make an appointment. (Earliest is the 25th, then another 10 days for processing! Arghhh!) Apparently I need a non-immigrant Visitors Visa which can be multiple use up to 10 years, but I still have to leave America before 6 months is up. I can leave and come back for another 6 months etc, but it is up to the customs officers at the port of entry as to whether I've left for long enough each time. Once I'm married a Spousal visa is the next step, which can take up to 6 months to process, but it'll be the one that sorts out the non-immigrant/immigrant issue.
Got my car registration off hold today, but the Warrant of Fitness runs out tomorrow, so I've got to sort that out too.
Worked at the shop today, and will be again on Saturday afternoon, so I've been keeping very busy, but.......

If I had a single flower for every time I think about you, I could walk forever in my garden. ~Claudia Ghandi

Back to Work

Woke up early (still on California time!) and chatted to Erich online for a bit before getting ready to go to work. My duties are changing somewhat because I will still be working for NZ Scrapbook while I live in California, so I'll be spending most of my work time updating the website and pursuing other projects. I spent the morning catching up with Kathleen and working on the web from her place, and the afternoon in the shop.
Went to the movies with my brother David. We saw 10,000BC, which had a different storyline than I expected, but was pretty good nonetheless.

I dropped a tear in the ocean. The day you find it is the day I will stop missing you. ~Author Unknown

Flying Away Home

My flight from San Jose was on the tiniest airplane yet, only three seats wide in a 1,2 configuration. Quite different from the LA to NZ section where the plane was 10 seats wide in a 3,4,3 configuration. I'm not an airplane buff... I don't know what sort of planes they are...
I was so tired that I fell asleep on the San Jose to LA leg of the flight (about an hour and a quarter) and didn't wake up till the wheels touched down.
Like I predicted, Tuesday disappeared in the blink of an eye as I crossed the date line. Actually, I was asleep when we did that. The flight from LA-NZ left LA at 9pm and arrived in NZ at 5.30am and I slept for most of the 12 hour flight. The guy next to me even commented that I was out to it. D'oh!
Mum picked me up from the airport and we called into the shop (NZ Scrapbook) on the way home so she could drop something off. Lots of new goodies since I was there last! I spent the rest of the day unpacking, going to the supermarket, chatting to the family, cuddling Nathan (who is now walking!) and missing Erich like crazy.

Times Up

Today is the day I fly back to New Zealand, but its not Goodbye, its See You Soon. As soon as I get back in the country I'll be taking steps to leave again. Erich and I are making plans for our future together and the first step for that is for me to arrange a visa to stay in the USA. At this stage I'm not sure of what the visa requirement entails, but we'll work it out. I predict a month to get it all sorted. I wish I didn't have to leave at all. So I spent the morning deciding what to take and what to leave behind and stuffing pressies into my bags.
My flights are San Jose - LAX, then LAX - NZ, and Tuesday will vanish like it doesn't exist. This week for me goes Sunday, Monday, Wednesday.

Golden Gate, Chinatown, Evening with the Family

This afternoon Erich drove us around different parts of San Francisco. We went over the Golden Gate bridge to Fort Baker beneath it where Erichs family like to go fishing.
We drove up to Coit tower around Chinatown and then headed to Erichs family's home for dinner. Again they put on a veritable feast, this time with Salmon and another fish that was cooked just by putting it in vinegar, ginger, onion and left out. I chatted with Erichs Mum & Dad while the others played Rock Band, (L-R Jasmine, Erich, Erwin, Earl) then we headed home down the Pacific Coast Highway, a leisurely drive, much more pleasant than the freeway.

Tomorrow, packing to head back to NZ. I don't want to leave!

Ethiopian for Dinner

This evening I met two more WoW friends, Brian (Ezroc) and Kirsten (Tanwen). They suggested an Ethiopian restaurant called Zeni which they love, and in the spirit of trying new things we went along and gave it a go. The place was very crowded, and there was a wait of about an hour, but once we were seated and had an entrée similar to a savoury pie, the edge was off and we settled in for the long wait on our meal. Ethiopian is served family style, and with no utensils. All the food is dished up onto one central platter lined with their large round sourdough bread, and you also get a basket of the same sourdough bread, but rolled up like bandages. Imagine sour greyish pancakes, but only cooking one side of them. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. To eat the food from the central dish, which is usually very spicy, but Kirsten ordered us the milder dishes (Thank you!) you tear off parts of your pancake bandage roll and pinch the food up from the platter with it. It was actually a pretty tidy way of eating, though they both warned us not to rub our eyes, as the spicy oils hurt. I suspect that was the voice of experience.
We had a great time and I look forward to meeting up with Brian and Kirsten again.

Valley Fair Mall & Dancing

I was back at the Valley Fair Mall all day today, shopping shopping shopping, and for a surprise to me, enjoying myself far more than I usually do when shopping.
In the afternoon Erich joined me, and we brought a couple more things, had Mongolian Barbeque for dinner (Choose what raw foods you want from a buffet, fill your bowl and they cook it while you wait - yum!) and then headed out to the dance studio.
Erich was DJing again, but we were able to get in a few dances :D

San Francisco Zoo & Sunset over the Bay

After a delayed start due to a malfunction of Erichs work mobile, we took the beautiful Pacific Coast Highway up to San Francisco. After a little detour to pick up Erichs mum to sort out stuff at the bank, we finally made it to the San Francisco Zoo. I was surprised to find that they didn't have as many "native" North American animals as I expected, or maybe we just missed them. The Bison were "Coming Soon", but the Grizzly Bears were awesome. One even jumped up on his hind legs and put his front paws on the glass which gave one guy the fright of his life - if the glass hadn't been there, he'd be squashed. I'm not sure if the big cat enclosures were the original ones or temporary ones, but we only saw one tiger and one lion. (the other lion having been shot by the police at Christmas for escaping and killing two young men). The Warthogs were not very co-operative, they stayed standing behind their log.

After the Zoo we went up to the USS San Francisco Memorial (a heavy cruiser which fought during the battle of Guadalcanal) on a lookout point that had a beautiful view of the Golden Gate bridge and out toward the ocean. We stayed until the sunset. Gorgeous.

Back to Erich's parents place in Daly City to meet up with his brothers and Jasmine for dinner. The guys rode their bikes and Jasmine drove us around to a friend Mark's place who also rides. Jasmine and I picked up Marks girlfriend Marissa. We had dinner at Sinugba Restaurant (Filipino food). I tried Pork Tocino (Tocino or tosino is a cured meat product native to the Philippines) and Halo Halo (Halo-halo (from Tagalog halo, "mix") is a popular Filipino dessert that is a mixture of shaved ice and milk to which are added various boiled sweet beans ...) (I didn't like the Halo Halo) and Erwin gave me a piece of chichiron bulaklak (Deep-fried pork intestines) to try. It tasted fine, but very fatty.

Another fun day :D

Winchester Mystery house

Spent the morning spending money at the Valley Fair Shopping mall, GREAT place to buy gifts. In the afternoon Erich and I took off to see the Winchester Mystery house. Begun in 1884, Mrs Winchester, the heiress to the Winchester Rifle fortune, employed carpenters and craftsmen to continuously build her mansion because the spirits of the dead who were killed by Winchester Rifles wanted her to. When she died, 38 years after starting the mansion, it had 160 rooms, modern heating and sewer systems, gas lights that operated by pressing a button, three working elevators, and 47 fireplaces. Either the "spirits" would suggest unusual and impractical features, or Mrs Winchester wasn't very good at architecture - there are stairs that go to roofs, windows that face walls, a door with nothing on the other side, and all kinds of odd things. We took both the House tour and the Behind the Scenes tour. Both were excellent.
After the Mystery House we went to another mall which was undergoing major reconstruction and I found a couple more things to buy there.. Whee! Shopping fun!

Sacramento, San Francisco, Daly City

Another early start this morning with a two hour drive to Sacramento, the capital of California, to meet up with Corey (Tombwalker) and his wife Kendra at their place. We jumped into their car and went to the Elephant Bar for brunch before going to an exhibition of real human bodies called Bodies Revealed.

"To help you see what a body really looks like on the inside, this Exhibition uses real human bodies that have been preserved so they do not decay.

A human specimen is first preserved according to standard mortuary science. The specimen is then dissected to show whatever it is that someone wants to display. Once dissected, the specimen is immersed in acetone, which eliminates all body water. The specimen is then placed in a large bath of silicone, or polymer, and sealed in a vacuum chamber. Under vacuum, acetone leaves the body in the form of gas and the polymer replaces it, entering each cell and body tissue. A catalyst is then applied to the specimen, hardening it and completing the process.
This method of preservation creates a specimen that will not decay."
The exhibition was fascinating! Afterwards we went drove into Davis were we looked in a paper shop (mostly invitations and gift albums), grabbed a drink from Jamba Juice (a high-end healthy smoothie chain - mmmmmmmmm) and looked around a bit before going back to Corey & Kendras. After a few songs on Rock Band (a video game where up to 4 people play drums, guitar, bass or sing along) we had to leave so we wouldn't be late for dinner with Erichs whole family in Daly City, just outside San Francisco, just over an hour's drive from Sacramento.
We made really good time, so I was able to take lots of photos from the car as Erich drove around San Francisco. Erich drives a Mustang convertible so we had the canopy down which made it much easier.
We caught the sunset over the pacific ocean as we were heading toward Daly City, where Erich grew up.

I was warmly welcomed by Erichs family, who had just finished preparing dinner when we arrived. There were 9 of us all, Mr & Mrs Bitonio, Erich & I, Erwin & Ashlyn and Earl & Jasmine (Erichs brothers & their girlfriends) and Aunt Alice.
Erichs dad had brought a Pacific Snapper at the market because we'd discussed seafood yesterday and he knew I'd like it. It was baked Philippine style and tasted delicious. Aunt Alice had cooked her specialty, asparagus and shrimp, and Mrs Bitonio roasted pork, and made Lumpia (egg rolls) and rice. A veritable feast! Apparently it is a rare occasion for the whole family to get together for a meal as Erich's place is an hour and a half away, and with everyones work schedule and such, it can be difficult to arrange, so there was a bit of a party atmosphere.

Erwin & Earl, Erich & I headed out to an Asian supermarket shortly after dinner - Wow FISH! There were fishtanks with different species of fish and lobsters swimming around waiting to become food, just about every part of a pig that you'd want to eat, and some bits I'm not sure any sane person would like to try (Snout anyone? Ear? Trotter?) Piles of chicken and of course, all the other weird and wonderful Asian foods. The boys brought all sorts of goodies for snacking on and for me to try.

Back at the house everyone was soon blatting out My Sharona on Rock Band and having a great time.

After a bit Erwin & Earl decided to organize a trip into the city to Erwins work and pick up Erichs motorbike which he'd been working on. Edwin and Earl rode their bikes, and Ashlyn, Jasmine, Erich and I followed in Ashlyns car.
After a minor delay at the workshop the three brothers were off on their bikes and us three girlfriends escorting them in the car. Earl did a few stunts on the freeway on the way back - sitting up on the tank, wheelies and lying down on the bike.
Erich is a new rider and has only just got his bike license so (thankfully) isn't up to those sorts of tricks.
The guys were stoked though, its the first time they've all been able to ride together as they only had the two bikes before.

I got along great with the whole family, and they're keen to take me fishing, go to places like Alcatraz and include me in their plans. *happy dance*

French Toast & Flowers, Meet The Parents, The Mayflower and more

Erich got up early this morning to make us a delicious breakfast of French toast and herb scrambled eggs. He also brought some flowers which smell lovely.
We spent the morning giving the house a good cleaning pending Erichs parents arrival. When they did arrive though, they were running a bit behind schedule, so all five of us (Erichs Grandma was there too) piled into their car and took off to a furniture store to buy Erichs Grandma a new Lazyboy recliner/lift chair. Erichs mum got a real bargain on the chair, particularly since they were closing down that shop and it was on sale pricing anyway.
We went to the Mayflower Malaysian Restaurant (the best chinese food meal we've had yet in my opinion) after chair shopping and then headed back home.
Erich and I quickly changed then went over to the Oakridge Mall where we'd arranged to meet two more Warcraft guildmates, Cliff (Devinoch) and Ian (Fuzzywunkins) (pic taken at new years) They were having dinner with Cliff's parents who were visiting from out of state, and Danae, a long time friend of Ians. We wandered the mall for a little bit with them, then arranged to meet back at Cliff's place later, as he had to go and drop his parents off somewhere.
I brought another new chess set, called Strato chess, which is a three dimensional set - very cool.
I also picked up two new books and two pairs of shoes. (second pair half price!)
We didn't visit for too long at Cliffs place as it was getting late, but it was great meeting more folks that I talk to on a regular basis!