Point break

July 13, 2008

This morning my fan exploded. Don't ask me how, I don't know -- at about 4:49am I heard a bang, almost like something heaving falling, followed immediately by a shattering tear and the sensation of shards of something peppering my arms as I slept. I woke up, staring at the little pieces of whatever sprinkled on my arms, mistaking them for glass in the early morning's dull blue glow. I looked around, thinking that one of the windows above the bed fell over and shattered, and that's about when Shane woke up wondering what happened. I told him I thought a window fell out (and he initially did too, I found out later), but he pointed out that it could be the fan. That's when I noticed an odd whirring noise coming from the fan, and as soon as my brother turned on the lights, realized that the little bits of "glass" were actually fragments of white plastic. I shut off the fan. As the motor slowed down, the fan's shattered blades came into clarity. It looked like one of the blades broke off somehow and then shattered another blade when it hit, and so on, until all of them were in tattered bits strewn about the inside of the casing and around the room. Neither looking forward to cleaning up, nor sleeping in a bed filled with coarse plastic powder, I shuffled up into the loft and went to bed there... hesitant to turn on the other fan.

When I woke up, the day was absolutely beautiful. Clear blue skies, warm weather, a nice breeze -- sipping a cup of coffee by the poolside, it felt like paradise. It didn't feel like New England at all, but some fanciful respite from the world, where the biggest concern is what you're going to do for fun that day. Seeing a biplane tour flying overhead from the nearby airport, I was reminded that an aerial tour of the island was one option. Since we're still unwinding from the drive yesterday, I think I'll leave that for another day -- I just hope it'll be as beautiful as this one. Though, I guess I lied a little bit about no concerns; I still had to clean up all the plastic fan bits from the bedroom.

Once the last of the tiny shards of this morning's incident were tossed to the wind, we set out on an adventure to Oak Bluffs. As Pierce navigated us through the streets, we passed countless numbers of bicyclists, first-time moped drivers, and pedestrians. The entire island feels like a giant club-med spa resort, but in the Northeastern United States; it is a far cry from Ocean City, MD, where the beach caters to any Joe and Mary Shmoe (and Shmoe Jr, too!). Here, everyone, I mean almost everyone, is excersizing or looking fabulous and excersizing. I chewed contently on my Slim Jim. Speaking of which, we crossed over the bridge where the kid in Jaws got his leg bitten off. It looked like a popular spot regardless of its fame, with kids and adults jumping off the side into the tide-swolen waters not far below. After passing 14 bicyclists in a row (no lie), we parked in Oak Bluffs and walked around town. Stepping out of the car, I was greeted by a pleasant panorama of the beach, seeing the bussle of sun bathers and families scattered about between rock jetties. We left the view for the town, immediately noticing a giant village green. For a moment I thought we stepped into a fairy-tale; countless Queen Anne style houses surrounded the perimeter of a round green field with a gazeebo in its center. People were walking along, flying kites -- all around a pleasant feel. Once we stepped into the center of town it was much like what you'd see in Rehoboth, DE, or other quaint beach towns, with an eclectic collection of shops dotting the streets. We tired of this pretty quickly, but even more importantly, it was lunch time.

After a long ride across the island, we approached The Bite near Menemsha. This quaint shack would have been considered a hole in the wall if it wasn't the only building for another half-mile. I placed my order and give my name to a jovial man who worked behind a screen door, and he passed it off to the other kitchen staff less than three feet away. Excited, I took a seat on a wooden bench with the guys and waited for, according to Pierce and Mark, the greatest Quahog chowder and fresh sea food you could have for cheap. They weren't kidding. The clam chowder was amazing, and the fish fillets were fresh and breaded lightly. I had a feeling that we would frequent the tasty sea-food shanty pretty much every day thereafter. Stuffed and satisfied, we tossed the empty symbols of a good meal into the trash and headed out for a stop I didn't quite expect. Apparently, the late great comedian John Belushi was buried in Martha's Vineyard, so we stopped by his modest plot on the way to South Beach. In the middle of a small area surrounded by a wooden fence, there stands a tombstone whose epitath reads, "I may be gone, but Rock and Roll lives on." Mark mentioned that many travelers visiting the site would often leave little tokens at the foot of the gravestone, such as various cigarrets, cigars, beer, and blunts. While standing at the plot, I was suddenly reminded I still need to watch Animal House. After paying our respects, we moved on to the beach.

My point earlier about everyone being fit and/or picturesque stood out even more when we got to the beach. In fact, I've made an addition to this obsesrvation: almost all the young guys I've seen going to the beach, near the beach, or wherever, all look like douchebags. This has actually been established on the way to South Beach, and confirmed by several other sources. I don't normally pay attention to class or social barriers (I like to see them more as lines to cross and mess around with), but this was starting to get a little uncomfortable. I suppose that's what happens when you visit an island that is generally frequented by those with expendable income and is home to the likes of James Taylor. Putting these facts aside, we stormed the beach and attacked the waves head-on. Well, all of us except Pierce; he promptly fell face-first onto his beach towel and passed out. I went ahead and ran into the water, and eventually Shane and Mark followed suit. The beach dipped down quickly, so the waves were pretty formidable that day and excellent for body-surfing. Though the water was a bit chilly, we quickly grew accostomed to it; I'm sure that getting thrown around by the sea helped warm us up a bit. Before we finished up, Mark and I got caught off-guard by a wave that probably stood 6-feet over our heads. Next thing I knew, I felt the sensation of sand and salt-water pummeling ever inch of my body, followed by Mark colliding with me and my feet floating over my head as I rolled under the wave. Once Mark and I were sufficiently tenderized, we stumbled back to Pierce's car and headed back home to relax (and de-sand) in the backyard pool and enjoy a relaxing meal.

On the road

July 12, 2008

Somehow I managed to wake up at 5:15am this morning, despite going to bed only five hours before. The excitement of the trip to come was a better stimulant than coffee -- but that in no way meant that I could operate without it. After grabbing a shower and tying up loose-ends, Shane and I jumped into Pierce's car alongside Mark and we set out on our journey to Martha's Vineyard.

The car ride went by faster than expected, both psychologically and literally. Having four goofy guys packed into one car tends to be extremely entertaining, and thanks to Mark's special mixed CD's, we were pretty much set for the duration of the trip. There were a few sights to makes things interesting, of course. While traveling North on 95, we saw a truck towing another semi cab. However, from our angle, it looked as though a semi-truck was heading straight for oncoming traffic. Thanks to Pierce's super-powerful awesome camera, we snagged a shot as a car was changing lanes (for maximum effect).

The Lost Chronicles, Part 2: Minneappolis-St. Paul International without the shame

Austin, MN, August 18-21

My last big outing for the summer was a jaunt up to good ol' Minnesota for my cousin's wedding (on Dad's side). This was actually my second cousin to get married this season, the first being on my mom's side (got hitched to a former panel organizer for Otakon w007!) Instead of leaving together, my dad left a week beforehand to hang out with his brothers. I originally thought my mother, brother, and myself would leave on the day before the wedding, but we were gonna shotgunnit up North the morning of the wedding day. Since the ceremony was around five or so, we had to leave at about 6am... granted no contest to the 4am wakeup run to LAX, but that's not something I like to do very often. The flight was relatively uneventful, and we arrived at the Minneapolis-St. Paul terminal on schedule. The fun part came next--driving the rental car from the airport to my grandma's house in Austin. Thank God I brought my good ol' TomTom GPS (available in a BestBuy near you! *pander*pander*) so the trip was pretty smooth despite the heavy rain. On an eerie note, this was about two weeks after the I-35 bridge collapsed in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Apparently, my cousin that was getting married usually commuted across the bridge every day. That day, August 1, she, for whatever miraculous reason, decided to avoid traffic and dodge the bridge entirely--inadvertently averting the entire catastrophe.

Aaaaaaaaanyway, I managed to get Mom and Bro back to Grandma's house safely and on time, and sure enough Dad was waiting there ready to throw us into our monkey suits. Funny thing, since the cathedral was literally a block away (small town, Austin.) The service was marvelous--Dad and his brothers sang the hymnals and various arrangements with live piano and trumpet accompaniment with a harmonious sound that filled the cathedral. It was great seeing the family together again, especially since we're all partiers--couldn't wait until the reception ;3 After the service, Brian, the father of the bride, got Shane to ride shotgun with him in his old convertible. The weather was far from perfect for having the top down, but that didn't stop him. I rode with Mom and Dad, and I got some great video of the guys passing us, hair and suits whipping in the wind. They beat us to the country club, of course. The reception was the usual -- bunch of family, scattered around the room in different groups, intermingling, drinking, and a DJ that would play "Celebrate!" without fail. Though, I will admit, it was good times. This was the first chance I had to drink with my relatives, so I tried capitalizing on that. I didn't have too many drinks (one can only drink so much when your parents are there too), but I enjoyed every single one I could with my cousins. After a bit of encouragement, my brother and I finally jumped onto the dance floor and made asses of ourselves, like everyone else. Good times, good times.

The rest of our stay in Minnesota was pretty much "meh." The rain that saw our arrival didn't want to quit, so there really wasn't much else to do. Come to think of it, if there isn't a big family thing going on, then nothing else really is either. Small towns kinda have that affect, and my cousins would agree. Luckily, our cousin Kevin helped Shane and me keep our sanity. We finally got a chance to see The Simpsons Movie at the local mall, which was nice. The high point (after the wedding) was the following Monday, when we ventured over to his house. I failed to mention earlier that our grandmother's house doesn't have the internet at all. Shane and I basically slept constantly and went to bed early because there wasn't any good excuse to stay up late. Kevin's place had a high-speed connection, so what did we all do? Download and install StarCraft, duke it out over the LAN, and watch ATHF:MFFT and 23. We didn't get back to Grandma's place until around 9pm or so, but we had our fill. Homeword bound, we got to bed early in preparation for leaving the next morning. I couldn't sleep--little surprise. I ventured over to the satellite TV and had myself a good perusing around for anything interesting. Much to my amusement, I stumbled across a QVC erotic novelties channel. Yeah, that's right: over-the-phone sex toy shopping from the convenience of your own home! They had everything: the phone numbers, the prices, various phallic objects of every color, shape, and size all waiting for you, and it was only a phone call away. They even had two cute young women holding them up and commenting on how squishy or soft the vibrators were, and how they would make a "great gift." My God, this world still manages to surprise me.

The Lost Chronicles, Part 1: Pennsylvania closed due to AIDS

Wow, it's been awhile since I last updated--consider it a testament to my ensemble of bad habits resembling faux-ADD. I also blame DELL, really -- I was on a roll with the blog, but when I got to Pennsylvania, some power problems I'd been having with my laptop finally manifested themselves into something coherent and my AC adapter and battery were toast. That, and I also got an early case of the "con crud" and was temporarily bed-ridden for half of the first day of the con. Anyways, here's the first part of my travels after the wonderland of California:

ANTHROCON, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, July 5th-8th

For those of you who don't know what Anthrocon is, good--get out while you still can. It's an annual convention held in Pittsburgh, PA in celebration(?) of the furry fandom. If you're still confused, think Disney's animated Robin Hood movie from way back when. People have different reactions to furries (most negative), but there are a million different kinds, some who don't deserve the heat they get. For the most part, though, it's hard not to make fun of alot of them. It's like any anime convention, really: you see all the different strata of nerd and geek there, from the serious to the casual, from the cosplayer to the gamer. I'd always wanted to go to Anthrocon since I was a Freshman in high school (shameful, I know), and since I was single, I figured I might as well go before I have any relationship to damage.

I literally left for PA the second I got back from California. Dustin's mom picked us up from BWI, dropped me off at my dorm, I grabbed my car, got my friends, and left. I was kinda annoyed, but not from traveling; the two guys comin' with me decided that it was a good idea to bring almost all of their possessions to the convention. I'm surprised I didn't facepalm through my head. In retrospect, if the hadn't, then they wouldn't have brought one of the things that kept me sane those four days. After cramming everything into my Explorer, we hit the road. I got full use out of my TomTom GPS as we headed up through Central Maryland. We were starving by the time we hit Western Maryland, and ended up stopping in Frostburg at a Pizza Hut for a quick bite to eat. Some how, what was going to be a routine stop for food turned into a little adventure itself. The staff at the store that night were a real trip, and we ended up just chatting and having fun. One of the waitresses popped out of no-where with some plush animals from behind the counter and we got caught up in a plushie war. No one was spared, but it was a blast! I wonder how they're doing now... they were a fun bunch.

When we finally got into Pittsburgh, it was pretty late in the evening. The con was supposed to start officially on Friday, but of course everyone was there on Thursday getting all geared up. I parked in a crappy parking garage not too far way from the hotel, and we dragged some of our stuff several blocks to the venue. I was amazed: the hotel was very nice, and I felt a little better about staying there. According to my friend, we had to wait for the guy who we were staying with in the hotel, so we all took a seat in the lobby. There were already people walking around with ears and tails, a few fursuiters here-and-there, just chilling on the sofas and enjoying free wi-fi. For some reason, I didn't feel nearly as phased by all of this as I thought I would. The costumes I'd seen so far weren't at all disturbing, so I was somewhat impressed. My friend caught sight of the guy we'd be staying with, and we started moving up to the room. Now, I failed to mention two things: one, I had no idea about the sleeping arrangements--I was only told we had a place to stay; two, we were staying with a good... five other people? Never--NEVER--let a friend arrange for a room and not tell you any of the details. Luckily, everyone was at the convention for different events, so it was never all 8 of us in the room at once. THANK GOD.

We spent most of the night wandering around, chatting, hanging out with the other con-goers in the lobby and checking out The Zoo, where alot of artists hung out. We ended up talking with 2 the Ranting Gryphon, who I would describe best as Lewis Black + Howard Sturn, but a furry (check out his webpage or Podcast... good stuff). Confusing, yes, but damn he's frickin' hilarious. All of us just stood around exchanging stories and experiences, and it felt like a pretty close-knit group even though we were all basically strangers to one another. I didn't get to sleep until around 6am or so the next morning... on the floor no less. I got something resembling a cold (the "con crud" so I've been told) and thanked God profusely when everyone left the room. I jumped into one of the beds and slept until around 2 or 3 in the afternoon and updated the blog. I didn't do much else, since my charger and battery stopped working, so I was forced to go and check out the convention.

I don't remember the sequence of events at the convention so much as the events themselves. I remember checking out the zoo a couple times to see if I recognized any artists. Of course I was scared stiff half the time, like when a kid sees Goofy at Disneyland or something. Although I consider myself somewhat of an artist, I consider the others to be far better than me, and I get nervous because of that XD. I managed to get by this feeling thanks to a few friends from UMD that I saw at the convention, as well as my little book. I got this great book made out of bamboo and leaves from this new-age store near College Park, and I wandered around Artist's Alley asking some of my fav's to doodle/autograph the book. I got quite a few great sketches, and might try doing the same next time I go to an anime convention. It was a great conversation piece when talking to the artists, and I even got to invite one of my favorites to come play Halo 2 with me. Oh, and FURRY MASTER CHIEF (heresy never felt so good).

What kept me sane during the entire convention was Halo 2. Since my friends packed everything, they brought their projector and my Xbox as well, which turned out to be the best idea ever. I set up random games of Halo 2 at various times in different locations around the convention--anywhere that could support a projector. The first night I tried this I set up near the rave (the raves were amazing, btw -- the DJ's they had playing spun out some incredible mixes) and attracted a few players. The next day that I tried it, I set up the Xbox near the zoo and ended up attracting a decent crowd. We switched off the best player every two games, which worked out nicely. Met a few decent people this way, though there were of course a few odd-ones. The highlight of my con experience was when I got one of my favorite artists, Meesh, to play Halo 2 with me. He was pretty good, but some of the other players trounced us. I spent the remainder playing with this other artist and another fur, and I annoyed the hell out of him with a shotgun-punch combo. I almost felt kinda bad... almost.

The convention was, overall, an amusing experience. I didn't feel as shocked or out-of-place as I thought I would, and made a few spiffy friends during my stay. There were some foam boards set up near the Zoo for anyone to post messages, but a fair number of doodles and jokes got posted there... along with a grilled cheese sandwich. It was like I was walking through the internet the entire time I stayed there... though I was surprised to see less disturbing than amusing things at the con. Would I go again? I'm not entirely sure... probably not. But do I regret going? My autograph from Rob Paulson, Pinky, from Pinky and the Brian, says not at all.

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.