The Last Day

"It's not enough. I want more."

Due to a mistake I made in reserving my flight, instead of reserving a 7AM flight, I ended up reserving a 7PM flight. But instead of kicking myself for such an error, I decided to make the best of it by scheduling a visit to my aunt, uncle, cousins, and grandparents. Aunt Lannie just moved into a much larger house in her area. I was unable to attend the house-warming party during Memorial Day weekend so I figured I could make up for it this time. Victoria was willing to lend me her vehicle to make the trip possible. She wanted to see some of my relatives who like her.

First I had to drive Victoria to her summer class. After struggling for a parking space and paying for a permit, we arrived to discover that class was canceled. Undaunted, we proceeded to Lannie's house. Lannie and Calvin were not there, but my grandparents were. I spent some hours talking to them. Calvin arrived with my cousins Chris (born Christmas Day) and Christine (born Valentine's Day). Victoria got to play with those kids until lunch (Grandfather's treat). They were asking when Victoria and I would be attending the convention in Anaheim this year (Hmmm).

Lunch at Claim Jumpers was filling (slow service though). Chris and Christine were energetic as usual around my presence. After lunch we showed them our various productions. They liked the person who was Osaka in Victoria's Azumanga Daioh dub. And already they have been disgusted by a relatively decent picture of Man-Faye in one of the Fanime MVs.

To ensure my scheduled return to Milpitas, Victoria and I left early to beat the traffic and return to her house. The drive was nice for rush hour traffic (lovely carpool lanes). We arrived home, packed up my equipment, and waited for Victoria's parents to take me to the airport after their light supper. I was allowed to help myself to some rice and lumpia. First time I had real lumpia. They taste like really good egg rolls (and me using "good egg rolls" in that order in one sentence is rare). Hmm, Victoria's mother gave me a gift similar to the gift my mother gave Victoria after Fanime.

With everything and everyone ready, I said my farewells to Andrew and Nixon. Victoria's father drove Victoria and I to the airport and I finally said my farewell to Victoria. We'd be seeing each other soon enough, but soon enough is often a long time.

LAX was a bit more intensive with security than San Jose. I had to remove my shoes to search for dangerous weapons. If I hadn't properly packed and after many days of a convention, removing my shoes would have revealed a dangerous weapon: my socks. Fortunately, I did bring extra socks so I was packing no weapons except for my keys. I had time to kill so I ate my packed dinner early. Or, I would have, except I forgot to filch a fork (and I left the BR fork at Victoria's). Luckily two coffee stirring rods worked like chopsticks.

After a gate change and a quick entrance to the airplane, I officially left southern California and returned to Milpitas. So ends the last day of my holiday.