Portrait of the Artist as a Young Geek

I'm up with family this week and the next: there's a mondo reunion for Mom's side of the family (although that part doesn't start until Sunday; right now I'm just catching up with the local family, etc.). Internet will likely be limited next week.

Those who remember my last trip up may think that was the reason I decided to take Amtrak this time, but while that might have been a factor, other issues included:

1) Gas prices. I don't need to say more there.
2) Had some Amtrak vouchers after canceling a leg of my law school tour.
3) Long-term parking at the local Amtrak station is free for customers.
4) I can't read on planes because it makes me nauseous, I can't read in the car because I'm driving. I can read (or watch movies on my laptop) all I want while seated on a train, so the fact that it's longer than either driving or flying doesn't bother me, since I can still keep busy.

Which is just as well, because if the Amtrak choice were just to avoid delays I would have been disappointed. The train had to stop for a full hour because some moron decided the train tracks looked like a good parking space. You heard me. There was a car sitting on the tracks that they had to tow off, then the inspectors had to check the tracks carefully to make sure there was no damage, because you really don't want 1000 tons of metal and 200+ people racing over damaged tracks at 60+ miles per hour.

There was no word on whether the car on the tracks was a Delorean.

Marty: Doc, Doc, why are we trying this again? We're in 2008, not 1885!
Doc: Exactly, Marty! There's no WAY we can afford to refuel!

Obviously, Thanksgiving break was well appreciated, especially since Dah Boss was able to grant us a couple extra days ("we've earned it," he informed us). Spent Wednesday driving home... unfortunately, LA County was maddening, even at 1 in the afternoon (and 2, and 3...) Thanks to an accident and a couple stretches that were painful for no particular reason, it took four hours to clear the basin (normally takes half that); then I hit the Grapevine and managed to get from there to Santa Clara County in the same four hours.

Andrew was deployed and JW was just stingy (just kidding), so it was me, the parents, and my grandmother for Thanksgiving dinner. Still glad to see Grammy, although she wasn't up for staying long. But since it wasn't Thanksgiving without some more noise, we swung by some friends of the family (yes, invited) afterwards and ran through a game of Munchkin with them. Winner, as is often the case, was Mom, who always pretends she doesn't know what she's doing with these games and then kicks our butts anyway.

A friend of Mom's was performing this week, so we caught A Christmas Twist at a nearby theater. The play can basically be described as what would happen if a playwright wrote a Dickensian play while stoned. Concluding line: "God help us, everyone!" Much amusement.

Monday morning was spent at the family dentist. I was sure going in there that I had a cavity, but to my pleasant surprise it turned out to be nothing more than a cracked dental sealant, which is much easier (and less painful) to deal with. Due to the stupid system of my dental insurance, I'm not covered for another appointment for another six months and one day, so hope they got everything, because they won't hear from me again until Memorial Day at the earliest.

Trip back was much better; the same stretch of LA County that took four hours going up took one going back when I hit it about 7:30pm. Probably used between 20 and 25 gallons of gas round-trip (yay for fuel efficiency!), which cost me $60 tops as opposed to the $100+ for round-trip airfare. Whether that, unlimited carryons, and departure time flexibility made it worth the extra 10ish hours of travel time is another question, but I really didn't feel like hunting down a flight at the last minute when I had no clue what my weekend schedule would look like less than 24 hours before I left.

There was, incidentally, some entertainment from Mom's new cat, but that deserves its own entry (largely due to photos). Patience until then...

( CMZero: In Wheaton! )

Speaking of the flu, feeling better but still tired (which explains the delay in this post). Sleeping now, talk tomorrow.

For those who didn't notice, I've been gone all week. Been keeping myself busy, and it's taken me a full day just to wind down. ( For the curious... )

But anyway, back, caught up on things... now if you'll excuse me... *passes out*

I am back; I've just been taking a breather and catching up on things before filling you all in. Time to do that. Due to the length, I think I'll chop this up into four bite-sized updates. First one...

( Which is actually still kinda long... )

More tomorrow. Same LJ time, same LJ channel!

I may have conquered the mountain today, but I think I still lost the war. Mt. Fuji, for those who aren't aware, is about two miles high (3700 meters). That much I knew. My first mistake, then, was not to bring enough water. I was a little worried about conserving weight, so I only brought a liter. My pack was indeed light as a result -- I barely even felt it for most of the trip -- but by the 8th stop I had completely exhausted my supply. No problem! They sell water (and other supplies) at the stops! ...for 500 yen a bottle. At this stop, anyway; it gets more expensive the higher you get. I can understand some of that goes into the trouble of getting the water up there in the first place, but I think it's also partially just because they can. Incidentally, for the same reasons, you're supposed to pay 100 yen to use any toilet. Again, I can understand that indoor plumbing is probably nonexistent at that altitude, so they've got to go through the effort of cleaning it out and disposing of the mess properly, but that still hurt.

You start at 5th Stop, where the bus drops you off. (That's as high as they've managed to get a viable road. Nothing stopping you from hiking all the way from Stop 1, but I don't recommend it.) First stretch of the trail is combined, but at the 6th stop it splits into three parts: the trail to the top of the mountain, the trail from top of the mountain (for those staggering back to 5th stop after a long hike), and the trail around the mountain (for the sane ones). We took the first one (my second mistake :p). The incline remains fairly slight until Stop 7, when it suddenly shifts to about 45 degrees. At that point this stops being a hike and you're officially climbing Mt. Fuji. At Stop 8 it levels back down to about 30 degrees and stays that way until you almost reach the summit (noticed how steep the last part looks in all those photos? It's true.) That's also when the air starts getting thin. 9th Stop actually has a small lodge. Not sure what services they provide (besides expensive food and water for climbers) but evidently you can call in, reserve a room, hike/climb up to that point one evening, spend the night, and then leave early to watch the sunrise at the summit (Stop 10). Stop 10 also has more souvenir vendors than a mountain peak has any business having (and thankfully, plenty of areas to collapse on benches for an hour). And no, I didn't buy an "I climbed Mt. Fuji and all I got was this lousy T-shirt." There were plenty of things I might have been interested in, but I didn't have enough money for any of them (wouldn't have brought ANY money if the Kitais hadn't informed me about the waypoint stores).

Somewhere just before Stop 8 I managed to pull a muscle in my leg. Up until there I was making decent time, but at that point it officially became a solo climb for me as the others left me in the dust. Nonetheless, I had gotten that far, and I wasn't going to quit there, so I hiked as best I could on it (had to take a LOT of breaks), briefly caught up with everyone at the next two stops, and managed to clock in at the top, dead last, at about 6 hours. Thankfully, whatever muscle was aching didn't get any pressure on it on the (less rocky anyway) downhill trail, so I was doing fine until the end... when about half a km before Stop 5, the trail sloped up again, and I was ditched once more to come in dead last at just under 3 hours. That plus the 45 minute rest break at the top... well, you do the math, but basically the climb took up the entire day.

So to sum up... my feet are sore, my right leg is a wreck, I'm sunburnt on both arms and the back of my neck (sunscreen! why didn't I remember the sunscreen?), I'm exhausted, and between bathroom use, water, and bus fare I'm out 2600 yen. In return, I got a great view and a lot of photos (which had BETTER come out). Not that I didn't enjoy both of those, but the next time I get it into my head to climb a mountain that tall, chain me up until I'm better. >_

Try none. The main house computer was constantly occupied by my father or brothers for some reason or another. The second computer had been replaced by a new one that was stronger! Faster! Better! ...and had no modem. Brilliant. I had access for a brief half hour at a friend's house late Friday, during which I checked LJ and my mail. Other than that, nada.

At least I managed to enjoy myself in other ways, even if my schedule was kind of packed... ( Mercifully trimmed for those who don't care about How I Spent My Summer Vacation. )

Going to be around for a couple more weeks, then I'm packing up, leaving the apartment, and off to Japan. It snuck up on me, somehow...