San Francisco

*Wave* Hello everyone! I'm in a good mood. *^^*

The San Francisco trip was yesterday! It turned out being very, very fun.

It was pouring when I got up yesterday, so I was hoping it would clear up a bit in San Francisco. Don't get me wrong--I adore the rain--but it was a walking field trip, and I preferred to not be completely sopped when the day was over.

We went down in a fancy charter bus, which is a good thing, because it's a long drive. A little over three hours. This is probably just me, but the charter bus looks like an airplane inside. ^^;; I got the window seat (BIG windows), and I sat with Mackenzie again.

On the way down, most of the class watched some random movie... I don't know what it was because I was too busy staring dreamily at the clouds and listening to, ironically, "Cloud 9". And I was on cloud 9, really... I was just staring out there, and the clouds were so big and beautiful and fluffy. Candle-white light was streaming down in the gaps in the clouds, lighting everything with this sort of...angelic glow. Tied with the music, it really was a natural high. It was awesome.

Anyway, when we got to Vallejo, the bus took a rest stop, which was where the bus driver discovered we had a flat tire. -_-;; It was okay, though. The rest stop just happened to be a scenic one, and we were only stuck there for about an hour. We had a class BS competition outside, meanwhile.

Well, once the tire got there and was changed (quickly, might I add), we hit the road again. It wasn't long before we arrived at the Museum of Modern Art--or MOMA, as I will refer to it from now on.

The MOMA was very interesting, but the people I was hanging out with seemed a little impatient about it, so I'm afraid I didn't get to savor the art as much as I wanted to. There was definitely some thought-provoking exhibits there.

One of my favorites was this entire room with trees and foliage painted on its walls--except some of it was intentionally unfinished, with pencil marks and numbers of where to paint. On one of the walls was a window with bars across it, and beyond the bars...a glowing blue sky (there was actually a depression in the wall where this window was, and real bars). On another wall was a running sink (an actual running sink, not a painting), some newspaper, and some rat poison. It was a stunning commentary on the role society takes in the peace of nature. Very affecting to me.

Other interesting things to note included: not one, not two, but *three* blank canvases, a lovely painting of a room with clouds painted on its walls and a giant comb and wineglass on a tiny bed, a statue of a bunch of spiders (fun!), a light in the shape of a fish, a glass chair with flowers in the glass, and...other stuff. I'm too lazy right now to go into too much detail. It was all pretty overwhelming. The architecture was beautiful, too--particularly the skylight and bridge on the fifth floor. *_* While we were on the fifth floor, a piece of the wood panel fell down with a big SNAP!, which made us all jump about five feet in the air.

Once we were finished in the MOMA, we walked to Union Square, where we were basically allowed to roam as we pleased. Mackenzie, Nate, Warren, Alex, and I broke off from the group in search of something to eat. Warren kept insisting that food wasn't worth it if it was less than $20, while everyone else was on a budget. We went into a sushi resturaunt long enough for me to hear some J-Pop playing in it (and get much, much too excited about it), concluded that was too expensive, and then settled finally on a little pizza parlor.

While we were eating, we kept listening to the music they had playing in the background at the funky little restaurant. It was...interesting. They had dogs barking Jingle Bells, a squeaky-voiced person singing "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth", and other such oddities. The music was so incredibly weird (and you know it's weird if *I* say it's weird...) that we all kept cracking up and were unable to stop. XD

While we were trying to recover from the hysterics of those songs, Molly showed up and informed us that there were nifty glass elevators to ride at one of the hotels. Naturally, we went off in search of these elevators. ^^

Well, we found the hotel she was talking about, and, alas, no glass elevators. We felt cheated, so we rode the normal elevators up and down the twelve floors several times anyway. At some point, Warren disappeared and we spent a huge amount of time trying to find him. Eventually, we located him in café. -_-; And here we spent almost our entire time wandering around the fancy hotel going, "Warrrren? Warrrren? Where are youuu, Warren?" Alex kept wanting to go into Victoria's Secret, but I convinced her she didn't need to go shopping for fancy underwear while on a field trip.

When we met Mr. Cartan back at Union Square, we looked up at the hotels and realized the glass elevators were at the next hotel over. *Slaps forehead* We got all-class pictures in front of the giant Christmas tree (I know I blinked in at least one of those pictures.) Then we all started walking to Chinatown.

Chinatown, really, was fascinating. The architecture, the colors, the people, the varied stores... I kept trying to drag Mackenzie into the Chinese video stores in search of bootlegged anime (more out of curiosity than actual intent to purchase), but she seemed pretty reluctant to be seen in one of those, so I cut my searches so short I only got quick glances at things. I did see a large box with something Eva on it, and something or another from HnG, but I don't support bootlegs anyway, so it's probably better I stayed away from the bootlegs. We kept passing all these stores that were glowing with gold and light and shiny things so brightly that they looked almost unearthly. One of the guys in my class bought a $90 sword while we were there. X3 Mr. Cartan didn't object in the slightest.

They had all these stores selling live chickens that they would butcher in front of you, so that made me angry. I considered buying all of the chickens and bringing them back on the bus with me, but somehow I didn't think anyone would allow me to. Seriously, though (and I really am serious about this), sometime I'm going to go there and rescue some poultry from the chopping block. They had some interesting species of poultry there that I would love to buy.

Once we met Mr. Cartan at the designated place, we went to Little Italy. By then, it was getting late, so we (meaning my friends and I) headed off in search of a restaurant. I didn't want to spend any money, but my friends ordered some food. The food was done--I swear--one minute before we were supposed to leave. It was kind of nerve-wracking in its own way. @.@ However, I'm the most punctual person alive, so that's probably why.

Well, we got on the bus, watched Waterboy and Finding Forrester (both of which I had already seen), stopped for dinner (I got a Subway sandwich), and got home at about 9:30 PM. Only two hours off the schedule! ^^;;

Then I got home and talked to Makayla on the phone about Last Exile, Chrono Crusade, RahXephon, and Naruto until almost 11:00 PM, and went to bed.

And...today was normal. Let's just leave it at that. XD

So, that was my trip. ^_^

( A few quizzes )

San Francisco

*Wave* Hello everyone! I'm in a good mood. *^^*

The San Francisco trip was yesterday! It turned out being very, very fun.

It was pouring when I got up yesterday, so I was hoping it would clear up a bit in San Francisco. Don't get me wrong--I adore the rain--but it was a walking field trip, and I preferred to not be completely sopped when the day was over.

We went down in a fancy charter bus, which is a good thing, because it's a long drive. A little over three hours. This is probably just me, but the charter bus looks like an airplane inside. ^^;; I got the window seat (BIG windows), and I sat with Mackenzie again.

On the way down, most of the class watched some random movie... I don't know what it was because I was too busy staring dreamily at the clouds and listening to, ironically, "Cloud 9". And I was on cloud 9, really... I was just staring out there, and the clouds were so big and beautiful and fluffy. Candle-white light was streaming down in the gaps in the clouds, lighting everything with this sort of...angelic glow. Tied with the music, it really was a natural high. It was awesome.

Anyway, when we got to Vallejo, the bus took a rest stop, which was where the bus driver discovered we had a flat tire. -_-;; It was okay, though. The rest stop just happened to be a scenic one, and we were only stuck there for about an hour. We had a class BS competition outside, meanwhile.

Well, once the tire got there and was changed (quickly, might I add), we hit the road again. It wasn't long before we arrived at the Museum of Modern Art--or MOMA, as I will refer to it from now on.

The MOMA was very interesting, but the people I was hanging out with seemed a little impatient about it, so I'm afraid I didn't get to savor the art as much as I wanted to. There was definitely some thought-provoking exhibits there.

One of my favorites was this entire room with trees and foliage painted on its walls--except some of it was intentionally unfinished, with pencil marks and numbers of where to paint. On one of the walls was a window with bars across it, and beyond the bars...a glowing blue sky (there was actually a depression in the wall where this window was, and real bars). On another wall was a running sink (an actual running sink, not a painting), some newspaper, and some rat poison. It was a stunning commentary on the role society takes in the peace of nature. Very affecting to me.

Other interesting things to note included: not one, not two, but *three* blank canvases, a lovely painting of a room with clouds painted on its walls and a giant comb and wineglass on a tiny bed, a statue of a bunch of spiders (fun!), a light in the shape of a fish, a glass chair with flowers in the glass, and...other stuff. I'm too lazy right now to go into too much detail. It was all pretty overwhelming. The architecture was beautiful, too--particularly the skylight and bridge on the fifth floor. *_* While we were on the fifth floor, a piece of the wood panel fell down with a big SNAP!, which made us all jump about five feet in the air.

Once we were finished in the MOMA, we walked to Union Square, where we were basically allowed to roam as we pleased. Mackenzie, Nate, Warren, Alex, and I broke off from the group in search of something to eat. Warren kept insisting that food wasn't worth it if it was less than $20, while everyone else was on a budget. We went into a sushi resturaunt long enough for me to hear some J-Pop playing in it (and get much, much too excited about it), concluded that was too expensive, and then settled finally on a little pizza parlor.

While we were eating, we kept listening to the music they had playing in the background at the funky little restaurant. It was...interesting. They had dogs barking Jingle Bells, a squeaky-voiced person singing "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth", and other such oddities. The music was so incredibly weird (and you know it's weird if *I* say it's weird...) that we all kept cracking up and were unable to stop. XD

While we were trying to recover from the hysterics of those songs, Molly showed up and informed us that there were nifty glass elevators to ride at one of the hotels. Naturally, we went off in search of these elevators. ^^

Well, we found the hotel she was talking about, and, alas, no glass elevators. We felt cheated, so we rode the normal elevators up and down the twelve floors several times anyway. At some point, Warren disappeared and we spent a huge amount of time trying to find him. Eventually, we located him in café. -_-; And here we spent almost our entire time wandering around the fancy hotel going, "Warrrren? Warrrren? Where are youuu, Warren?" Alex kept wanting to go into Victoria's Secret, but I convinced her she didn't need to go shopping for fancy underwear while on a field trip.

When we met Mr. Cartan back at Union Square, we looked up at the hotels and realized the glass elevators were at the next hotel over. *Slaps forehead* We got all-class pictures in front of the giant Christmas tree (I know I blinked in at least one of those pictures.) Then we all started walking to Chinatown.

Chinatown, really, was fascinating. The architecture, the colors, the people, the varied stores... I kept trying to drag Mackenzie into the Chinese video stores in search of bootlegged anime (more out of curiosity than actual intent to purchase), but she seemed pretty reluctant to be seen in one of those, so I cut my searches so short I only got quick glances at things. I did see a large box with something Eva on it, and something or another from HnG, but I don't support bootlegs anyway, so it's probably better I stayed away from the bootlegs. We kept passing all these stores that were glowing with gold and light and shiny things so brightly that they looked almost unearthly. One of the guys in my class bought a $90 sword while we were there. X3 Mr. Cartan didn't object in the slightest.

They had all these stores selling live chickens that they would butcher in front of you, so that made me angry. I considered buying all of the chickens and bringing them back on the bus with me, but somehow I didn't think anyone would allow me to. Seriously, though (and I really am serious about this), sometime I'm going to go there and rescue some poultry from the chopping block. They had some interesting species of poultry there that I would love to buy.

Once we met Mr. Cartan at the designated place, we went to Little Italy. By then, it was getting late, so we (meaning my friends and I) headed off in search of a restaurant. I didn't want to spend any money, but my friends ordered some food. The food was done--I swear--one minute before we were supposed to leave. It was kind of nerve-wracking in its own way. @.@ However, I'm the most punctual person alive, so that's probably why.

Well, we got on the bus, watched Waterboy and Finding Forrester (both of which I had already seen), stopped for dinner (I got a Subway sandwich), and got home at about 9:30 PM. Only two hours off the schedule! ^^;;

Then I got home and talked to Makayla on the phone about Last Exile, Chrono Crusade, RahXephon, and Naruto until almost 11:00 PM, and went to bed.

And...today was normal. Let's just leave it at that. XD

So, that was my trip. ^_^

( A few quizzes )