![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shirenomadTrain ride northward ran seriously behind schedule; we had to "pull over" on various lengths of track to let several southbounds go past. I don't know why they had the right of way, but they did. So we arrive in Santa Barbara -- where I trade in my train for a bus -- about an hour late. Not a problem, the train stewards continually reassured us all on the way there, as the bus is there specifically for taking those on this train further north and it will not leave without us. Well, someone forgot to tell the bus, which was 20 minutes up the road by the time we arrived and had to turn around (confusing those few passengers who had arrived via other means and were on time for it). So we leave Santa Barbara an hour-twenty late... and by San Jose, we'd managed to stretch that to two hours.
Which was actually a plus: if we'd arrived a mere hour late, I would have stepped off my train about the same time my brother Andrew stepped off his plane (in Oakland!) which would have made pickups challenging.
So, anyway, Turkey Day was just the five of us plus Grammy. Mom still wasn't feeling great (got hit with the flu Sunday), so we all helped out with the miscellaneous dishes and she got the turkey (which no one else felt up to dealing with). Ate, chatted, took photos.
JW and Andrew played Sid Meier's Pirates almost obsessively over those two days. It's a fun game to watch, but it gets a little repetative, so I did little more than observe. No game playing for me that weekend...
Well, no computer game playing. JW brought Catan, so the three of us held a game Thursday evening after Grammy had gone home, then we held another game with all five of us Friday afternoon. Mom, as is her style, kept up her "I'm not a gamer; I don't know what I'm doing" rookie face and then proceeded to whup us all. ^^;
JW left early Saturday, leaving me and Andrew to watch HP4 (finally!) Yay for lots of Fred and George doing what they do best, yay for lots of Neville showing early signs of coolness. Yule Ball felt kind of like a high school drama, but that was sort of the point... doesn't mean I didn't wince a little, since I generally dislike high school dramas. (Yes, yes, Buffy. I said "generally.") My other complaint was that the ending was anticlimactic. I think they should have ended with Dumbledore's final speech. Or if they were insistent on including the end-of-the-year farewells (don't see why; third movie left them out), they could have starting with Dumbledore in the hall, and then had him keep talking as voiceover while we saw everyone leaving.
Ride back down was considerably smoother; we were actually ahead of schedule to most stops (not that this helped, since we then had to wait until scheduled departure time, but it made for good leg-stretching time). The train was packed to the brim this time around, and the conductor went on the loudspeaker every stop to clarify they would not be selling seats to those boarding at the station; if you didn't have a purchased ticket already, you weren't getting on. Apparently someone ignored that warning ("But your website wouldn't let me buy any yesterday!" "Yes, that's probably because we were SOLD OUT.") and got put off at the next station, judging by an additional clarification at one point.
Got home, had a late dinner/snack, checked email and websites, and completely passed out around 11, which is why this update waited until today.
Oh yeah, and I found out my City of Heroes month expired today. Hence my current mood. *scowls* I thought I had another couple days, otherwise I would have made more of an effort to sign on one last time last night... not that I would have been a very good player given how tired I was.
Which was actually a plus: if we'd arrived a mere hour late, I would have stepped off my train about the same time my brother Andrew stepped off his plane (in Oakland!) which would have made pickups challenging.
So, anyway, Turkey Day was just the five of us plus Grammy. Mom still wasn't feeling great (got hit with the flu Sunday), so we all helped out with the miscellaneous dishes and she got the turkey (which no one else felt up to dealing with). Ate, chatted, took photos.
JW and Andrew played Sid Meier's Pirates almost obsessively over those two days. It's a fun game to watch, but it gets a little repetative, so I did little more than observe. No game playing for me that weekend...
Well, no computer game playing. JW brought Catan, so the three of us held a game Thursday evening after Grammy had gone home, then we held another game with all five of us Friday afternoon. Mom, as is her style, kept up her "I'm not a gamer; I don't know what I'm doing" rookie face and then proceeded to whup us all. ^^;
JW left early Saturday, leaving me and Andrew to watch HP4 (finally!) Yay for lots of Fred and George doing what they do best, yay for lots of Neville showing early signs of coolness. Yule Ball felt kind of like a high school drama, but that was sort of the point... doesn't mean I didn't wince a little, since I generally dislike high school dramas. (Yes, yes, Buffy. I said "generally.") My other complaint was that the ending was anticlimactic. I think they should have ended with Dumbledore's final speech. Or if they were insistent on including the end-of-the-year farewells (don't see why; third movie left them out), they could have starting with Dumbledore in the hall, and then had him keep talking as voiceover while we saw everyone leaving.
Ride back down was considerably smoother; we were actually ahead of schedule to most stops (not that this helped, since we then had to wait until scheduled departure time, but it made for good leg-stretching time). The train was packed to the brim this time around, and the conductor went on the loudspeaker every stop to clarify they would not be selling seats to those boarding at the station; if you didn't have a purchased ticket already, you weren't getting on. Apparently someone ignored that warning ("But your website wouldn't let me buy any yesterday!" "Yes, that's probably because we were SOLD OUT.") and got put off at the next station, judging by an additional clarification at one point.
Got home, had a late dinner/snack, checked email and websites, and completely passed out around 11, which is why this update waited until today.
Oh yeah, and I found out my City of Heroes month expired today. Hence my current mood. *scowls* I thought I had another couple days, otherwise I would have made more of an effort to sign on one last time last night... not that I would have been a very good player given how tired I was.
