I slept for eleven hours last night and could have slept eleven more. I did NOT want to go to school today, but I convinced myself with promises of seeing Ronnie and Farnaz, and an extra promise that I'd kick myself in the shins if I missed a Statistics class. So off I went to school, and it wasn't so bad. I had lunch with Ronni, who told me about her meeting with her counselor. Her counselor told her stuff that applies to me as well, and the bottom line is that I was wrong -- I do not, in fact, have to take Psychological Research Methods (aka 100B) and Chemistry at the same time. In the words of my mother: thank god, hallelujah, praise the lord and pass the ammunition!

Since Ronni didn't get into 100B for Winter and is taking it in the Spring instead, I'm thinking of just taking Chem in Winter and 100B with Ronni. Also, my badass Anthro class got cancelled, so no more primate class, and good-bye Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule! Anyway, I think I have a schedule I like (if a person can actually like an eight a.m. class, that is). I just have to okay it with a counselor tomorrow, make sure I'm on the right track, and then sign on up. Sign on up! Huh! Like a sex machine...

So, how was your Thanksgiving? Mine was pretty cool! Joe's sister Sandy, her husband Joe (who I'll call HHJoe from here on out), their kiddo Mele (who is 3), Joe's brother's daughter, Crissa (who is 13), and Joe's mom all came out to see us. They stayed near Disneyland, where all of us met up three days in a row!

We had Thanksgiving dinner at the Blue Bayou, the restuarant you see at the beginning of the Pirates of the Carribbean ride. We had the turkey dinner which came with turkey (but you knew that), cranberries, stuffing, steamed veggies, and a sweet potato torte. For dessert, I ordered a chocolate mousse cake thing which I barely ate half of, because it was so rich! And then I ate some of Joe's pumpkin creme broulee, and finished Sandy's, too! Now that was an amazing dessert.

Best dinner story: Mele mentioned she wanted to go home, and Sandy told her we weren't leaving yet. Then Mele saw the waiter walking by and said to him, "Excuse me. Excuse me."

"Yes?" he asked.

She waved her hand in a circle over her plate and said, "Can I get this wrapped?"

HAHAHA! I could not stop laughing!

HHJoe said, "You think we eat out enough?" Hee!

We rode the Haunted Mansion ride several times and reveled in the beauty of the Nightmare Before Christmas decorations. We rode Pirates, too, of course. And we even rode the Winnie-the-Pooh kiddie ride, in which we accompanied Pooh on his acid trip. Or something. It was all very confusing!

Watching the "Believe in Holiday Magic" fireworks show was fantastic, as always. We watched the bursts of light appear in time to the holiday music while hot chocolate warmed our bodies against the cold night air. Watching the foamy "snow" trickle down afterwards was fantastic to see again too, bringing up childlike feelings of awe and holiday excitement. It always nearly brings a tear to my eye, I get so excited and gleeful. (Yes, I am that cheesey.) I'm so happy we got to see it all again!

The next night, when we rode The Jungle Cruise, Mele sat in my lap. As we came to the end, she said loudly, "We're on a pirate ship." I asked her, "What does a pirate say?" The night before, she'd answered that question with a very cute, "Arr, matey." But that night, she sang at the top of her lungs, "YO HO! YO HO! A PIRATE'S LIFE FOR ME!!!" and everyone on the boat laughed. It was the funniest thing on the whole ride!

We also rode the holiday It's A Small World ride that night. I somehow managed not to murder everyone in my path. It was unbelievably crowded and I hated the world as we walked through jerky people who bumped into me left and right as well as screaming children and shouting adults. Parade crowds blocked every avenue at which we tried to turn. I'm not even sure how we made it to the ride in one piece. The saving grace was that there was no line. And did I mention I didn't kill anyone? I'm very proud of myself for that.

The third night we were there, we went to California Adventure. It was raining off and on. which made for a very cold, damp night. Right before the Aladdin show, I scampered off in search of hot dogs. I was starving and knew we weren't eating dinner until after the show, so I just wanted something quick. I got in line (if it can be called a line at all) behind a mob of people, also known as The Most Obnoxious Family on the Face of the Planet. I kid you not, there were about seven children and four adults, all together. One man and the boys were the worst, though the women weren't helping by ignoring them and shouting loudly amongst themselves. One little boy said he wanted hot chocolate now, and the man said, "You want hot chocolate NOW? Fine. Give me some hot chocolate, NOW!" He kept saying it over and over, thinking he was funny, I guess. The little boys screamed into the open windows, running and screaming into as many as possible. The poor employees just went to all the open ordering windows and closed them all. The boys continued running around and shoving each other. Eventually, the man somehow managed to order his food. Then the boy said, "Excuse me!" and pushed his dad. The man shoved the boy back and they elbowed each other back and forth. "Excuse me! Excuse me!" they shouted over and over.

"Uhm. Excuse ME!" I shouted at them angrily. They turned and looked at me, then slithered out of the way. Except for the young boy. He tried to cut me off by walking right in front of me, but I wasn't having any of that. I just put my hand up in his face in a total, "Talk to the hand!" gesture. I've never done that to anyone before (when I wasn't joking). It was awesome. Take that, you punkass kid!

I put my hotdog in my pocket so that I could take it to the Aladdin show. Heh. I wrapped it in napkins, of course. It was just funny that it fit inside my cargo jeans. Those pockets are so convenient! I ate it in line, while Mele became fast friends with the little girl in front of us. They held hands and laughed a lot. It was really, really cute! Then Crissa showed me some features of my camera phone I didn't even know I had, and we had fun playing with them all. Then it was time for the show, which seriously kicked ass. Joe and I had seen it before and it was fun to see a second time. Mele slept through the whole thing, poor kid. At least the rest of us had a good time!

Then it was time for dinner. We thought it'd be great to get seated fast, so we opted to sit on the patio where it was freezing-ass-cold outside!! We stayed all bundled up throughout dinner (which was excellent, by the way). I had soup, lasagna, and wine. Mmm, warm food.

After we finished dinner, we only had about 20 minutes before the park was going to close. Crissa said something about not having time to ride the rollercoaster, California Screamin'. I said, "Sure we have time! I'll go with you. Want to go right now?" So we did! Sandy wanted to go, too, so the three of us headed out. There was no line, which meant we could sit anywhere we wanted to. Sandy sat in front of us, and Crissa and I sat next to each other. Crissa had already told me that she's a total rollercoaster fiend and has ridden the biggest, fastest coaster in the country (I don't even remember what it is, anymore). But for me, it was a totally new experience, and I was freaking out. The biggest coaster I'd ridden thus far was Space Mountain, which really, is not that big. And definitely does not go upside down!

So, I was feeling a mixture of terror, excitement, and a desperate hope not to puke. I locked myself in so tight, I could hardly lift my arms at all. Crissa kept trying to get me to put my arms in the air, but I physically couldn't. I'm not sure I would have even if I could, though. Grasping those metal handles with all my might was the only thing that made me feel a little less like I was going to go barreling into outerspace. Dude, that ride was amazing! It was exhilerating and freaky and so freakin' FAST. I came up out of my seat a few times which felt crazy. During the upside down part, I clenched my eyes shut and pretended I was just going forward reallyfast. It worked! I opened my eyes a few times during the ride but mostly clenched them tight. And the entire time, I screamed my fool head off! I felt obligated to with a name like California Screamin'. Plus, it made me feel better. Relieves tension, you know. Crissa kept saying, "Are you okay??" And I'd say, "Yes! AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" Hee! I'm quite sure I said, "Shit," a few times. Hopefully I didn't offend Crissa's young impressionable ears. Once, Crissa patted my hand, at which point I took the opportunity to grab it. After the ride, she told me, "You squeezed my hand so HARD!" That poor girl. I'm glad she still liked me afterwards!

When the ride finally pulled to a stop, Crissa said, "That was awesome! Let's go again!"

"Um, okay!" I said.

Then I stood up and realized I could not walk in a straight line. I was insanely dizzy and needed a little support walking out of there. It was like being drunk. And I'd only had one glass of wine! Sandy agreed with me -- no second time for us! Sandy, Crissa, and I walked arm in arm back to the rest of our group, talking excitedly and laughing the whole way. Sandy was also excited because on the last drop of the ride, a hat flew into the air and she caught it! She returned it to the guy at the end of the ride and he said, "That was some catch!" It was pretty cool!

I didn't buy the picture of us on the ride, though maybe I should have. Sandy and I had our eyes shut tight and our mouths opened wide, screaming ourselves silly. Crissa was just sitting calmly, eyes open, smiling sweetly, as though she were sitting in a church pew or something. It cracked me up!

The next day, Joe's family drove up to our apartment, to see where we live and hang out for a little bit. Crissa had been dying for the new Carmelo Anthony shoes (which we all kept forgetting the name of - we preferred to call them the Carmen Electra shoes), so I called up the local Footlocker to make sure they had them in, in her size. And they did! When I told her, she got so excited that she jumped up and down and hugged me, so I spun her in a cirle. It was a fun moment! I liked getting seeing her so excited and feeling happy for her. I told her later that even though I didn't understand that kind of excitement over shoes, specifically, I'd had stuff that I'd gotten that excited over, so I understood, and she thought that was cool (I think). I also earned some Cool Aunt points when it turned out that she and I like the same Maroon 5 song, "She Will Be Loved." Nice. I've still got it. I'm not an old fogie yet! Though according to Crissa, I only have two more years of being young. Yep, it's all over at 25. Heh! Better squeeze in all my partying now, then, huh?

Anyway, Crissa did indeed get the shoes she wanted, which really looked very cool on her. She even got them at a discounted price. I was excited to see her so excited and happy! She's going to use them only for basketball training and games. She also bought some Chucks that have three shades of pink and are incredibly cute. It made me wish I had a pair of Chucks myself, but I'm not sure I could find a pair wide enough. I think I'll be sticking with New Balance.

We ate dinner at King's Hawaiian, which has amazing bread, and therefore amazing French toast. It was a wonderful dinner! Then it was back to our apartment for more Donkey Konga on Gamecube. It's super fun to play those bongos, and Crissa was totally addicted to it by the end of the day. Mele was into touching anything she wasn't supposed to (which was basically everything in our home... nothing shows you how NON child safe your home is like bringing kids into it!) or running around in small circles screaming at the top of her lungs. She also scared the bejeebers out of me by pulling her pants down at one point, sitting on a little chest of ours and announcing, "I have to go potty!" OH MY GOD. I rushed over to her, scaring her a bit, I guess, because she jumped off the chest.

"Do you really have to go potty?" I asked urgently.

"No, I was just pretending," she said.

"Oh," I said with relief. "Well can't you pretend with your pants on?" I didn't really care that she wanted to play pretend half-naked. I just really didn't want her peeing on any of my stuff!

A while later, we said our good-byes and they all headed back to their hotel, and that was the end of Thanksgiving Vacation 2004. I'm glad we got to see everyone, and I know we'll see them next year, too. It sounds far away, but I'm sure it'll be here sooner than we think. Fun times were had by all! I'm thankful we had a nice visit, that they had a good trip out here and a good trip back home, that I have awesome friends and family, and a cool school, and Little Zoo. There's so much more I'm thankful for as well, but to list it all would be crazy. I'll just say I'm grateful for all the wonderful things and people in my life. And that we managed to survive the busy holiday! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Thanksgiving albums are here and here.