^^ Oh you love it :P
'Still trying to catch-up, though it seems i'll have more time for this kinda stuff over the next few weeks. All of a sudden, my hectic schedule is now nonexistent...which is good and bad /:)
Yippie!! Winter Holiday report:
Rob, Howie, Maiya and I kicked off Thanksgiving weekend with a commemoration dinner at the Encounter restaurant; ( that's the big UFO-lookin' thing right across the street from LAX airport ....yep, that one. ). The restaurant designed by Disney Imagineers was everything i had hoped for: swirly shapes, purple chrome elevator, a creepy glowing ceiling, ray guns that dispense fountain sodas, and lava lamps out the wahzoo.
What i wasn't expecting: the food is actually decent; ...i'd even say it's pretty good! BUT, you're paying for the sci*fi-chedelic atmosphere. It's no shocker: purple couches and an aerial view don't come cheap. If ya have an hour or so to kill before your flight takes off ( when does that ever happen? :P ), i'd say check this place out. We had a great time :)
After our alien feast, we went our separate ways. Rob and I got back on the 5 and headed south to meet my family in San Diego for a weekend of 'home'-cooked turkey, aggressive early morning sale-shopping, and the Zoo :D
Fry's had some good deals on Black Friday. At 5:00am, the entrance line wrapped around the entire store. All in all, the enormous crowd of coffee-guzzling sale-zombies was pretty tame, though my sister nearly got trampled by some lard-ass trying to get to a $5 CD binder. Moron.
We've discovered many of the most sought-after items were left up at the checkout area; people changing their minds at the last second ( there's a tip for ya for next year ;). One of the biggest draws: Lots of items were sold with mail-in rebates; making them FREE once ya get the check in the mail. Since i'm posting this so late, i can tell you: of the 5 rebates we've qualified for and sent out...we've only received 3 checks so far ( now @12 weeks later :P ).
'Shiesty companies are: Hitachi and Meritline. *throws poo at them* You guys are lame.
Speaking of poo, here are some new friends from the San Diego Zoo:
Here, Panda discovers that twigs do not taste as good as the magic orange crackers that come out of the white tube. :D ( i wanted to ride on his back )
I had discovered a new feline: the Siberian Pallas Cat; which was on display in an out-of-the-way area behind the polar bears. Holy crap...it's like a cat / raccoon hybrid!! Two of my very favorite animals combined to form the superior creature. And it's a fairly rare zoo animal...only 2 zoos in the states have them ( San Diego and Cincinnati ), so seeing this ferocious beast live and up-close was pretty exciting ^_^ Hooray for new kitties! 'Just sorry I don't have any of my own pictures to post :( My camera isn't able to focus through the thin fencing around the cat's home. (( ^^above kitty-cluster is taken from a random image search ))
BONUS! Awesome foliage sighting: the SNOWFLAKE TREE!! :D (( trevesia palmata ))
C H R I S T M A S ruled ^_^ It always rules. Rob and I flew home to the land of 98475485 diners, refineries, mobsters, and 3-lane highways: New Jersey.... to be with our families and our hometown friends. So many adventures.... :
My DS library had nearly doubled over the month of December. (( I'll save those details for a future entry )). Seeing how I was on such a huge Nintendo high, I was dyyyying to see the Nintendo World Store in New York City. I had dragged a big bag of money onto the plane eager to blow it all on Nintendo treasure (( exactly what our apartment needs ;)) ....
This location was once the Pokιmon Center...as you can see they didn't change much; just the signs over the door and windows! Here's a look inside the store:
There were no less than 5 million people in there; every Gamecube and DS station had a line. Tons and tons of kids ( and big kids ) putting their Christmas money from Grandma to good use!
**Best attraction: the Nintendo museum!! 'Lots of rarely-seen memorabilia and historic items on display.
I was incredibly disappointed with their merchandise... nothing too amazing. Too few "exclusive items": shirts ( bland designs ), pins, shot glasses, pens.... nothing to go apeshit over. Of course, they sold the games, but the prices were horrible. No holiday promo's were in effect. Biggest let-down: I was hoping they'd have those great gashapon toys and ufo plush you see on www.lik-sang.com ;... no dice. Damn...
((Left)) Decent items found at NintendoWorld:
-NES controller beanie ( doesn't even fit my tiny skull! ) $12.99
-Lanyard ( ehh ) $5.99
-Super Mario Brothers 2 pen ( awesome ) $2.99
-Yoshi plush from Mario Party ( cute ) $12.99
-Mario Kart holiday wrapping paper ( for the hell of it ) $2.99
((Right)) AWESOME toys from www.lik-sang.com NOT at the Nintendo store!!
Well, if you're a huge Nintendo fan, this is a cool place to check out. 'Just realize this store exists mainly for pimpage purposes and not for unique and amazing products.
On to Philadelphia, where we met up with friends, Keith and Chris :D
-Keith is world-famous for his themed parties and video game gatherings ^_^
-Chris is envied by monster-lovers everywhere. Check out his Godzilla shrine ( roughly 15% shown here ):
'Highest priority on our itinerary was Cereality; the cereal bar!!! Holy crap!! This place was soooo cool!! o.0...
This cute little blue-canopied cafι is an oasis of flakes, O's, puffs, and milk...'Complete with refrigerator magnets and a cozy breakfast table. I can hardly wait for this to explode all over the states!! Geez, who DOESN'T love cereal??
Cereality kicks so much ass in the 'charm' department.
I ordered one of their house specialties, called "Life Experience"...that's 'Cinnamon Life' and 'Golden Grahams' cereal with fresh bananas, and almonds; topped with honey and brown sugar. It's served in a leak-proof white box ( much like a Chinese food carton ). With cereal in hand, you can then mosey on over to the milk bar,..which resembles a cow-patterned refrigerator, and help yourself. Of course, you can go nuts and make up your own extreeeeme cereal concoction using whatever cereal and toppings they have on hand. They won't stop you... no matter how retarded you wanna be with the malted milk balls and espresso. :)
More to come: Christmas continued, Pinball Parlour, New Years, Animal Crossing, Electroplakton, new Dream Pets, etc. :D
See ya!
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