Homeward bound

I couldn't sleep. I mean, I slept, but only for about 2-and-a-half hours. My cell phone said 3:30am, and my body refused to rest any longer. Since we were supposed to get up at 4:00am anyway, I stayed up and worked on my computer for a little bit. Katie's parents didn't come down to get us until 4:30am, and they were completely surprised to see me awake. I wandered around, checking if I had everything while Dustin and Katie were still getting up. They both kept falling back asleep, refusing to get up until necessary.

We finally managed to get up and out, taking some food with us for the flight. When we got to the airport at around 5:00am, there were long lines at the luggage checks and security stations. This was a large change from the seemingly barren airport we experienced when we flew in--though baggage claim areas are usually less-populated anyway. An announcement floated over the PA system, mentioning a security breach that called for tighter security procedures. The lines were long, but there wasn't much different when going through the metal detectors. We still got through security quickly, so when we lined up at our gate we had a good hour-and-a-half to kill. Dustin spread out on the floor with Katie and I watched some Paranoia Agent on my iPod.

We eventually boarded the plane, hoping that our forward position in the C-grouping would give us some advantage while picking seats. There were no three seats adjacent one-another, but I managed to get a seat right behind Dustin and Katie. I tried sleeping on the flight, but it proved immensely unsuccessful. Though I was incredibly tired, I could not get to sleep for more than an hour at a time. Giving up, I took out my iPod again and tried watching Flight of Dragons. When that ended I tried occupying myself looking at the magazines they had, only occasionally bugging Dustin and Katie. While flying over the Grand Canyon, Katie managed to get a great picture using the digital camera. I'm glad that I was awake for that.

I can't decide whether I was bored or if time went quickly. On final approach I noticed that Dustin and Katie were playing Solitaire on both of their computers. I whipped out my iPod and, with its last little bit of battery power, started playing Solitaire with the iPod between them. Katie chuckled and I tried playing a few games, but sooner than expected we arrived at BWI. Dustin's mom picked us up and took us back to College Park. Dustin spent the entire stay in California without his usual extra sweetened Lipton iced tea, so we went straight to McDonald's and he ordered a large cup of it, eagerly drinking it immediately. We got to the Grand House of Funk, thanked Dustin's mother, and I transfered my luggage to my car. I stepped in to say hi to the crew, and to say goodbye to Dustin and Katie. With that, I went back to my car and drove over to the Commons at UMD for a quick shower and pick up my passengers for the next journey.

And the Defilers red glare, Big Shootahs everywhere

Happy 4th of July! We spent most of the day lazing around again--the sky was overcast for the first time since we arrived the week before. Katie's parents did get us up and going to Fry's for a sale and the potential for 25-cent hot dogs and soda. There was an Independence Day sale on SD cards and other lovely gadgets, but the hot dogs were MIA. We tried going to Costco to pick up some food for dinner, but the place was completely closed. Conceding defeat, Katie's father made some chimichangas, corn dogs, and pizza. I was kinda hoping for something a little more appropriate for the festivities, so when I found out Katie was going to Vons to pick up ice-cream, I tagged along. While we were out, Dustin, Charlie, and Zach started up a game of Warhammer 40k outside around the train set. Fireworks blasting in the distance echoed all over the valley, adding another dimension to the game--Dustin loved every minute of it. Katie and I got back with steak and Polish sausage and fired up the grill. As the coals warmed up, I ventured up to the roof, taking my DV camcorder with me in hopes of filming some of the fireworks. The camera turned on for a second and immediately died; the battery ran out somehow while it was still in the case (the switch was probably turned when shifting around). I paused to enjoy the view, then returned inside, cursing my camera.

The 40k game went on for quite awhile, stopping only for a moment when the steaks finished cooking. I brought my laptop out to play music while I cooked the meat, but I went ahead and left it on to add to the atmosphere. Katie and I chatted a little bit when Dustin and the guys went back to their game. We walked over every now and then to check on their progress--Dustin's Tau were making Charlie's Orcs suffer, while Zach kept bombarding the Tau forces. We stayed up until around 1:00am, despite having to wake up at 4:00am for our flight out. However, I was still in no hurry to go to bed... it was nice just sitting around and enjoying the warm night air while celebratory explosions thumped in the distance. I wasn't quite ready to go home yet, but I have a feeling I'll definitely be returning to California some day.

One shall stand, ten shall fall

Our stay in California started winding down. We've been spending most of our time chilling out at the house now, playing games or installing software. Nothing much was said, though we were all thinking the same thing, as though in telepathic conversation: Whaddaya wanna do? I dunno, whaddayou wanna do? While sitting outside and enjoying the air, I saw a shadow walk over me. I raised an eyebrow at this, since my chair was up against a wall and there was no way someone could be behind me. I looked up and saw Katie standing on the wooden overhang above the patio. She waved at me as she walked around, checking that everything would be alright for the 4th of July. We were hoping to sit on the roof and watch fireworks shoot up over the horizon that night. Out of curiosity I went upstairs to check things out, and she showed me the best point of entry to the roof and whatnot. I didn't try it out yet--I was leaving that for the next night. In the mean time, I had an idea for something we could do.

My cousin John moved out to California from Oregon some years ago to pursue a career in film-making. Since I was out here, I thought it'd be cool to hang out with him, so I gave him a call a few days prior and tried to work something out. I went ahead and dropped him a line one more time since time was running short--both for the day and the trip. He mentioned before that he might have plans on Tuesday, but they fell through, so we decided it was time to meet up and hopefully figure out something fun to do. John live sin Orange, CA, so it took a while to get here in afternoon traffic. When he got to the house, I introduced him to Dustin and Katie, along with Katie's family, and we stepped out to the back patio and played catch-up. After chatting for a bit, Dustin and Katie stepped out back with us and we began discussing plans for the evening. We figured that trips into downtown LA or Hollywood were a little ambitious, but maybe a trip to the mall at Redondo beach would be good. Thinking a bit further, we found out that John liked Lucky Strike, the bowling lounge Dustin, Katie, and me had experienced the night before. Since John hadn't seen Transformers yet and we had no problem seeing it again, we decided on going to Del Amo mall once again for a bit of bowling, drinking, and Transformers. It took us a little longer than expected to leave the house, however--it turned out that my cousin had never played Guitar Hero before, so Katie let him have a shot at Guitar Hero II. He got the hang of it very quickly (he's always had a musical gift) and became hooked. John, Katie, and Dustin took turns at the game for a while before we set out for the mall. I think we all had Trogdor stuck in our heads even when we got to the mall.

We all grabbed a bite to eat at the eatery, and I stayed as far away from Mexican Express as I could. While eating, Dustin pulled a Jurassic Park quote, and soon he and John were quoting the movie ver batum until we decided to go. Lucky Strike was next on the schedule; we managed to surprise the bouncer again, and after seeing Dustin's Maryland ID and John's Oregon ID, as he took mine he sarcastically said, "...And Kansas." While waiting for our lane arrangements, John noticed a contest notification on the counter. Apparently, a red bowling pin would drop in a random position every time the pins reset. If the red pin is in the first, front center position and someone gets a strike, then they win a free game for up to 16 people. We reasoned that, should anyone win, then the coupon would go to John, since he actually lives in California and has a Lucky Strike near him. After a few minutes we managed to get a lane and ordered a few drinks. Katie mentioned a drink a few nights before called a "Surfer on Acid," which the bartender that evening happened to know. I ordered the concoction and everyone placed their respective requests before starting the game. When we started, I actually managed a strike on the first try, which blew me away. Sure enough, it'd be my only strike the entire night, but for Dustin it was a different story. he managed a couple strikes, but then started bowling gutter balls for almost three rounds. When it was his turn again, the red pin came up center. I went ahead and grabbed a bus-boy nearby to act as witness, just in case. Dustin picked up the ball, saying, "You know I'm not going to make this..." He stepped forward, let the ball roll and made it. Wait, he made it?! We started cheering and he dropped to his knees in surprise. We went ahead to the front desk and John filled out the coupon, as we had agreed upon earlier. After that, we were very excited during the rest of the game, the magic of the moment lingering for quite a while. Upon finishing our drinks and our game, we got a table near the bar and ordered a few more. I had another two Surfers on Acid, enjoying the cinnamony-coconut taste. We talked about video games for a little bit, a bit about movies, and then at quarter-to-eleven decided to line up for the movie theater across the lounge.

When we got to the AMC theater, our hearts sank. The line for Transformers wrapped around the side of the cineplex, past the escalators, and around the balcony. It was technically opening day for the movie, and everyone who saw the pre-release (like us) told everyone to go watch it, so no big surprise. Not long after we got in line, however, a worker at the theater came over and told everyone to get into three lines based on the theater the movie showed in. The lines were shorter, but we still managed to get the a spot at the end. We stood around, talking about WoW and whatnot, and finally the line started moving. When we got inside, we had the same problem as the night before, in that there were plenty of seats but not enough adjacent seats for our group. We ended up splitting up in groups of two, with Dustin and Katie in lower seats and John and me in higher seats. During the previews, the silly trivia and advertisement slides were still on, so they mixed with the footage on screen. They were actually kinda funny, though--everyone started booing until they showed the title for I Am Legend and in the corner was a giant magnifying glass with the words "The Plot Thickens" plastered over the screen--then we started laughing. The lights suddenly turned on when the movie actually started, so we started raising a ruckus again until the lights turned off. Once the movie was underway, everything went smoothly. It was just as good the second time, though I was a little sleepy from the drinks and because it was a little late. We had another lively audience, giving the movie that great accent of applause. After the movie, we spent the entire walk back to the car praising the movie and discussing the state of modern computer animation. I'm glad we decided to go out that night.

Bah weep granah weep ninny bong

Today was a pretty relaxing day. Actually, it was nerd-tastic: we spent most of the time lazing around the house while Dustin worked on his Java project, Katie laid back and read, and I spent most of my time agonizing over trying to get Linux on my iPod. Why in the world would i want to do that? It's because then I could play Doom on my iPod. The idea sounded great at the time, but the iPodLinux support wiki gave out bad installers and none of the forums were of any help. Putting the nightmare aside for a moment, I gave grilling another shot. We still had a bunch of uncooked steaks left over from the other day, so I threw some fresh coals on the grill and tried lighting them up. I didn't let the lighter-fluid soak, though, so I basically kept having to relighting the grill and the lighter-fluid ran out. This proving just as annoying as the iPod thing, I left frustrated and took a shower while the coals (hopefully) started warming up. By the time I got back, Katie had managed to find some more fuel, soaked the coals, and got the sucker lit. After a few minutes I threw the steaks on and grilled 'em up--they weren't half bad. Normally at this point I'd be wondering what we're doing, why we're not out exploring the great bounty California has to offer, but I didn't care--we were going to watch the new Transformers movie that night at 8:00pm, and that's all we needed.

The movie was showing at Del Amo mall, the sixth largest mall in the United States according to Wikipedia. Inded, the shopping center was enormous, stretching across several blocks with sky-walks over a few roads. Unlike the Mall of America, which has about four levels and an amusement park, Del Amo has about two floors, including an outdoor section, and simply expands out over Torrance. The mall was pretty nice, especially the outdoor part of the mall, sporting contemporary architecture and a neat glowing-fountain. Signs everywhere denoted new attractions under construction, as well as proclaiming Del Amo mall "fashion central." Unfortunately, they took this statement too seriously: looking at the mall directory, a good third of the mall's stores were clothing oriented, and had only three electronics stores. What're three geeks to do? Well, the movie was going to be starting in a little over an hour, so we went ahead and grabbed some food. We each grabbed something from different establishments in the eatery and sat down together. I was in the mood for Mexican food, so I went to Mexican Express... but after seeing them microwave it in front of me, I was even less sure about the quality of my meal. After I made a few unflattering comments about the food, Dustin made a valid point: "Think of what Mexican food basically is--now put 'express' at the end of it." Oh well, at least we had fun with the salsa they gave me.

We left for the mall's theater shortly afterwards, hoping to get decent seats. There were lines gathering outside for the 9:00pm and 10:00pm showing of Transformers--ours already went inside. We ran into the theater and found ourselves in an interesting situation: there were plenty of seats, but they were scattered about everywhere. It was next to impossible to find three adjacent seats where one of them wasn't being saved. Luckily, we managed to find some in the back right corner of the theater with a good view of the screen. When the movie started, everyone was glued to their seats. We had one of those audiences that woulud yell and cheer when something great happened--sometimes it makes a movie difficult to watch, but this just galvanized the awesomeness of the experience. The theater roared with applause when the title showed, and erupted whenever one of the robots transformed. I was afraid that the movie would be one of those fans-only flicks that wouldn't appeal to anyone but those familiar with the franchise. I was completely wrong. Transformers was an all-around great movie, and at no point did I ever wonder what time it was, or how long the movie was going on for. The movie's momentum refused to stop until the credits finished rolling. By the time it let out, everyone basked in the afterglow of a communal nerdgasm. I mean, Transformers wasn't better than sex, but it beats the hell out of masturbation.

The rest of the night floated down in a gentle deneumont. Dustin, Katie, and I visited a bowling alley and lounge adjacent the theater to wait for Charlie, who hit the 10:00pm showing. I thought the alley was like any other I've been to, but there were bouncers at the door checking I.D.'s. Once inside, I noted the low lighting, live music, trendy couches and groups of club-goers among the lanes. Basking in the cool ambiance, we each got a drink and some chicken tenders, saying very little, simply because there was nothing that needed to be said (we had expended the phrase "Transformers is AWESOME") . After drinks and whatnot, Katie and I managed to convince Dustin to come and explore the area neighboring the mall. Unfortunately, there was no such thing as night life in Torrance, so we headed back to Del Amo and enjoyed the cool night air together.

Would you like Fry's with that iPhone?

When I said I was burned out on Friday night, that was an understatement. Pete, Dustin, and I technically got back to Katie's at 4:00am on Sunday morning. I had pretty much fallen asleep in the car, then stumbled blindly into the house and made straight for the couch. Dustin and I managed to get up sometime around 10:00 or 10:30am, but neither of us were truly awake. Some Katie-made bacon helped us a little bit, and then her father came around and offered to take us on a trip to the Apple Store to see the iPhone and then to Fry's electronics. Despite our haziness, Dustin and I gave no protest.

What can I say about the iPhone? It's incredibly spiffy. The multi-touch technology that Apple incorporates reminds me of a couple demo videos I once saw when the technology was still under development. And now, here, I had it in my hands for a good fifteen minutes. The GUI was smooth, as always with Apple, and it rotated based on the screen's orientation. Sometimes it got a little out of hand, however--the window would flip when you didn't want it to, or it wouldn't rotate when you wanted it. The touch keypad was a bit of a nuisance, but the backspace key was strategically located so corrections are quick and simple. Web browsing was a blast, especially scrolling with fingers and controlling magnification by either pinching or spreading your fingers. Flash was not yet enabled on the phone, but it might be soon. While I was having fun with the iPhone, Katie used the camera on another demo iPhone to snag a picture of me.

When we finished playing with the phones, we went across the parking lot to Fry's Electronics. Katie called it, "A toy store for adults," and how right she was. It had everything you could ever want from any electronics store, from computers and games to tools and component parts. Each store has a theme, as well--the one we went to in Manhattan beach was jungle themed. We danced around the aisles for a bit, taking in all the shiny objects. To pay me back for the EDC tickets, Dustin told me to find something in the store that was around the ticket price and he'd get it for me. I ended up getting a nice Motorola bluetooth headset and couldn't wait to play with it when we got back home. We grabbed a bite to eat at Weinerschnitzel, a hotdog-themed fast food restaurant with chili on everything, and then relaxed at the house for the rest of the day.

Pushing up the electric daisies

Well, Friday burned me out. We did so much that I spent most of Saturday writing about it. At least I had a chance to relax a bit before heading out to the Electric Daisy Carnival with Dustin and Pete in the evening (Katie was gonna relax at home). In the mean time, we went ahead to Vons grocery store to get some 3-dollar steaks. At the store I not only encountered cheap red meat but also another wall of liquor, even grander than the last (and at discount prices!) Once we got back, Dustin and Katie played Diablo II while I made my first solo attempt at cooking steak on the grill. Katie's brother Zach and their friend made hotdogs and sausage on the grill not long before that, but like a genius I got distracted and tried grilling when the coals were mostly spent (her brothers like cooking with lots of fire, too--check out the burn holes in the wire mesh overhang where the grill used to stand under). I threw a few handfuls of coal onto the grill, doused 'em with lots of lighter fluid and watched the flames lick the raw beef. I could hear the sizzling, but it died down before the steaks even started to cook. I gave the coals a few more good spurts using the pyro's grilling method, then sat back and waited. The coals finally started getting white, but after turning the steaks over, I found that they still had a ways to go. I continued squirting lighter fluid every now and then, but on one of the spurts I kept the stream going for too long... a few good arm hairs died that day. Oh well, I hope that Dustin and Katie like their steaks with fire, and lots of it.

Pete came around later after a little adventure around L.A. He accidentally got lost and ended up in Long Beach, so Pete gave me a call and I gave him live turn-by-turn directions using Google maps. When he arrived we grabbed our glowsticks and the TomTom ONE GPS then ran out the door. I forgot the receipts for the tickets so Dustin ran out and grabbed 'em. Suddenly he jumped back in the car yelling, "Quick! They're on to us!" Pete was on the phone and incredibly confused while I sat shotgun and laughed my ass off. Once we got going, I keyed the directions into the TomTom, but Pete needed to fill up the van's tank first. When we got to the gas station, Pete got a card from Dustin and stepped out to tend the pump while Dustin and I chilled. Dustin was trying to tell me a story when Pete poked his head into the van to ask about topping the tank off instead of using 20-bucks worth. After telling him sure, Dustin resumed the story when Pete popped in again to ask, and Dustin again said, "Yeah, I don't care, I'm telling a story." He continued the tale when Pete popped in again, uncertain if Dustin really didn't mind. I heard Dustin sputter in surprise and go "Wha, bah, gah, I don't care! If people behind us wanted gas, they could have some too! Lemme finish the storeeee." Pete left, but the story was put on hold for awhile on account of Dustin and me laughing too hard. Soon afterwards we started heading out for the carnival. Pete popped in a techno CD and we got ourselves warmed up. As the song played, I noticed motion out of the corner of my eye and saw Dustin pounding his arms rhythmically with a distressed look on his face. He was trying to psych Pete out, but every time either of us looked back, we all broke out laughing and couldn't keep the pattern. Pretty soon all of us started this odd, twisted dance to the music, hoping that some poor driver would see us and ponder the destiny of humankind.

Once we got to EDC, I thought I as suffering a bad bout of deja vu. I kept seeing things I experienced the day before at AX: as we got closer to the event, we saw more and more people dressed in costumes and wild clothing, with hair all the colors of the rainbow. We stood in line behind two guys from Texas dressed as the bowler gang from Clockwork Orange--I can't believe I didn't take a picture. We all talked a bit to break the boredom while standing in line, but people-watching proved just as fun. The whole event is comprised of several stages, each playing a different style of electronica. We could feel the bass just walking in from the parking lot. While in line, though, we could also see nearby trees glowing orange and blue, with periodic strobes of green coming from beyond the entrance. Once we got through security, I immediately felt like I wasn't walking through stainless steel turnstiles, but pearly gates.

Everywhere was teeming with activity. A stage off to the right had lasers and strobe lights going off constantly to heavy beats while people let loose with glow-sticks. Others chatted or head-bobbed while waiting in line for the rides--this was a carnival after all. Pete, Dustin, and I headed towards the main stadium where Paul Oakenfold was playing. Once we entered the stadium walls, we stood atop stone stairs looking down on the field, where the pulse and twirl of glowing from countless ravers. Straight ahead at the far end of the stadium was an enormous stage with towering screens playing psychedelic imagery, and to the left and right near us were more carnival rides with huge lines. Dustin and I got into line for the tall tower that, after raising you high above the crowd, gives you up to gravity and lets you fall. Since Pete had heart surgery recently, he went ahead and explored the area. While waiting in line, we raved a little bit. Unexpectedly, one of two girls standing behind me asked for something. I had no idea what she was saying because of the music, though by the eighth time I realized she was asking me to give her friend a lights show. I took some twisty glow bands from earlier and wrapped them like gauntlets around my arms while walking to the stadium, I had two glow sticks in my collar, and I took one more blue glow stick in each hand and gave her friend a little demonstration. They seemed slightly amused, though overall I think they felt a bit uncertain of what to do at the carnival. A girl started dancing on the platform part of the ride, twirling her glow sticks and doing lots of deep bends... I swear if there was a pole she'd feel at home.

When Dustin and I got onto the platform and closer to the ride, we'd catch the blast of air displaced by the ride when it gets to the bottom. Having danced a bit the breeze was a relief from the warm night air. We jumped into the seats, secured the harness, and started waving our arms and legs around to the music. A clunk rang out when the lift latched onto the seats and up we went. Everyone began shrinking as we rose higher and higher into the evening sky--even the loud techno music sounded more and more muffled as we ascended. Once we hit the top, we let out a yell and the seats dropped. With a loud "BYAAAAAAA!" we shed any fear we had, then leaped triumphantly from our seats at the end of the ride. After that, we lined up for the other greatest attraction there--the porta-johns. Then, with the hope of making the carnival a little more interesting, we lined up for the bar. After a good fifteen minutes of the line (if you could call it that) not moving, and also the steep prices, we skipped out on it and decided to try the other ride in the stadium. Unfortunately, it was broken, so we went ahead up the crowded stadium steps and out into the madness to explore.

In front of the stadium were more rides, but most of them had incredibly long lines. Dustin managed to spot one that looked like fun and had a relatively short queue, so we went ahead and waited with everyone. The ride was kinda like the tea cup ride, where you have four people sitting across from one another in a circle, and in the middle there's a disk that you use to spin yourself around. We sat with a pretty cool couple, and Dustin and I had fun making them sick by spinning the ride every-which-way. When the madness ended, we walked along the concourse some more. Dustin talked me into going on the slide ride, which, I will admit was fun; he found an extra blanket no one was using for the slide and wore it as a cape on the way down. Walking away from the slide we came across a large, metallic dome with protrusions of varying size and geometry. Various sticks were attached to the sculpture by wire, and people were free to pick them up and bash the hell out of the thing. As everyone banging on the object got a feel for each other's rhythm, we eventually got some really good percussion going. As I joined up with Dustin, I saw a guy running out from inside the dome holding his ears and groaning while his friends laughed. The sounds of the drumming faded as we neared one of the stages outside the stadium. Dustin and I soon stood facing a flood of blue light and blaring bass. As though by instinct, we pushed forward into the crowd and raved until we couldn't dance anymore. Soon afterwards we ran into Pete while grabbing some Gatorade, and found out that Pendulum had already started their set. Pete walked us over to their stage, and then he and I left for the Infected Mushroom concert that'd be starting shortly.

Walking through the crowds at EDC compared to navigating between Scylla and Charybdis; stray from the course and you would end up torn from your party and swallowed up by some form of electronic ecstasy (okay, maybe the allusion isn't entirely apt). After passing hordes of revelers, Pete and I arrived at our destination. Within minutes, the stage lights went down and Infected Mushroom got on stage. Most of the sets that night were either DJ or playlisted, but this was completely and utterly live. Besides the two principle members of the group, they also had a guitarist and drum player on stage, adding more depth to the whole experience. The entire area around the stage for a good 50 yards was completely packed. I managed to get into the middle of it, following people here and there. I was hoping to twirl a few glow sticks while at the concert, but I could only safely move my arms either up or down, so I stuck to jumping up and down while prominently displaying the rock-salute. I was hoping to catch a dance or two with some girls, but the best I got was with a pair of lesbians... so it wasn't a total loss. As the night progressed I didn't care too much about who I danced with. The bass completely flooded me, making every hair on my body, every beat of my heart pulse with energy. It was all about the moment, about feeling one with everyone while the musicians literally rocked our world. I guess what I'm trying to say is, it was freakin' sweet.