This update is going to be long
Apr. 25th, 2007 02:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
exatronMuch fun was had at the wedding on Saturday. The ceremony was a bit unconventional since my cousin and his new bride took advantage of an interesting part of California law to have a former professor to preside over the ceremony. They also reversed the clothing traditions a bit since Mike was the one wearing white.
The reception was great, which isn't surprising since my mom's side of my family knows how to throw a party. Food, alcohol, music (including a live jazz band), and a cupcake-based wedding cake. I had a glass of champagne and a Sardinian iced tea.
My cousin Matt delivered another brilliant toast about the first time he'd heard of Katie, his brother's new wife. Apparently, he and his brother were in Marrakech on a shopping trip for spices (Mike loves to cook, and these trips have become a tradition), with Matt acting as an interpreter. During their transactions, the vendor they dealt with decided to share some of his most precious wares- an aphrodisiac.
Mike, upon hearing what it was, asked Matt to ask how it should be used. Matt, translating from Moroccan French, said he was supposed to "rub it on his meat". Seeing an expression that was universal, the vendor realized that Matt's translation was a little off, and had him explain that it was for chicken and beef, barbecue basically.
After getting clarification, Mike asked for one kilogram, then decided on two. Taken aback, and wondering what his brother would do with two kilograms of Moroccan Viagra, Matt asked. Mike simply replied, "Well, there's this girl&hellip," and the rest was history.
My sister and I think that we succeeded in our plan to get our mom drunk at the reception. My mom claims otherwise, but she was very… impulsive after she'd had a few drinks. She started taking pictures at random, followed by claims that they didn't turn out.
Sunday was a bus tour of Hollywood. It was okay, but a slow McDonald's meant that I wasn't able to find the two stars I most wanted to find- Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog. It's also been unseasonably cold, so things like Muscle Beach weren't as fun as expected.
On Monday, we went to a taping of the Late, Late Show. Craig Ferguson was pretty funny, as was the stand up comedian at the end of the taping. The guests were kind of meh, but I did learn some interesting things about TV production. The bit about the camera adding ten pounds is true- the cameras are equipped with a parabolic lens that stretches the picture horizontally by about ten percent. The idea is to make a smaller stage appear larger, but it also affects the people on camera.
I also learned that the bands are filmed first on shows with small sets since tearing down that equipment and moving the desks and chairs in is faster than doing it the other way around.
Tuesday was spent at the San Diego Zoo. I tried to see all of the felines, but there was some renovation in that part of the facilities. All I saw of the cheetahs were a couple of "Cheetah Crossing" sign. :( A lot of the kitties, like the mountain lion and Amur leopard, also had the sense to lounge away from prying eyes.
My sister and I also found out that there are things which will make tortoises move really fast. We had just found the exhibit for the African Spurred Tortoise when we noticed one of them galloping toward us at an alarming speed. He decided to turn at the last second, went around in a few circles, and then dashed off to a corner that was hard for us to see. When he got there, we found out that another, smaller tortoise was in that corner too. Next, we heard some grunting and scraping. I shouldn't have to draw you a picture to illustrate what they were doing; although, from what we could see, the fast tortoise could have used it. He seemed to have alignment issues.
Overall, it was an interesting place, but I think the Toronto Zoo is a little bit better.
Now, it's time for bed so I can catch the flight back home.
I'll definitely have to visit this place again. I had a lot of fun, haven't seen everything, and feel like I owe visits to a few people.
The reception was great, which isn't surprising since my mom's side of my family knows how to throw a party. Food, alcohol, music (including a live jazz band), and a cupcake-based wedding cake. I had a glass of champagne and a Sardinian iced tea.
My cousin Matt delivered another brilliant toast about the first time he'd heard of Katie, his brother's new wife. Apparently, he and his brother were in Marrakech on a shopping trip for spices (Mike loves to cook, and these trips have become a tradition), with Matt acting as an interpreter. During their transactions, the vendor they dealt with decided to share some of his most precious wares- an aphrodisiac.
Mike, upon hearing what it was, asked Matt to ask how it should be used. Matt, translating from Moroccan French, said he was supposed to "rub it on his meat". Seeing an expression that was universal, the vendor realized that Matt's translation was a little off, and had him explain that it was for chicken and beef, barbecue basically.
After getting clarification, Mike asked for one kilogram, then decided on two. Taken aback, and wondering what his brother would do with two kilograms of Moroccan Viagra, Matt asked. Mike simply replied, "Well, there's this girl&hellip," and the rest was history.
My sister and I think that we succeeded in our plan to get our mom drunk at the reception. My mom claims otherwise, but she was very… impulsive after she'd had a few drinks. She started taking pictures at random, followed by claims that they didn't turn out.
Sunday was a bus tour of Hollywood. It was okay, but a slow McDonald's meant that I wasn't able to find the two stars I most wanted to find- Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog. It's also been unseasonably cold, so things like Muscle Beach weren't as fun as expected.
On Monday, we went to a taping of the Late, Late Show. Craig Ferguson was pretty funny, as was the stand up comedian at the end of the taping. The guests were kind of meh, but I did learn some interesting things about TV production. The bit about the camera adding ten pounds is true- the cameras are equipped with a parabolic lens that stretches the picture horizontally by about ten percent. The idea is to make a smaller stage appear larger, but it also affects the people on camera.
I also learned that the bands are filmed first on shows with small sets since tearing down that equipment and moving the desks and chairs in is faster than doing it the other way around.
Tuesday was spent at the San Diego Zoo. I tried to see all of the felines, but there was some renovation in that part of the facilities. All I saw of the cheetahs were a couple of "Cheetah Crossing" sign. :( A lot of the kitties, like the mountain lion and Amur leopard, also had the sense to lounge away from prying eyes.
My sister and I also found out that there are things which will make tortoises move really fast. We had just found the exhibit for the African Spurred Tortoise when we noticed one of them galloping toward us at an alarming speed. He decided to turn at the last second, went around in a few circles, and then dashed off to a corner that was hard for us to see. When he got there, we found out that another, smaller tortoise was in that corner too. Next, we heard some grunting and scraping. I shouldn't have to draw you a picture to illustrate what they were doing; although, from what we could see, the fast tortoise could have used it. He seemed to have alignment issues.
Overall, it was an interesting place, but I think the Toronto Zoo is a little bit better.
Now, it's time for bed so I can catch the flight back home.
I'll definitely have to visit this place again. I had a lot of fun, haven't seen everything, and feel like I owe visits to a few people.
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no subject
Date: 2007-04-25 01:46 pm (UTC)She started taking pictures at random, followed by claims that they didn't turn out.
Bwahahaha!!
Yeah, I don't know what was up with the weather; I heard it rained in LA, while Chicago, crazily enough, was *gorgeous* (it got up to 85 on Sunday, and there were no clouds the entire time).
Wait, you drove all the way down to the San Diego Zoo? I haven't been there in ages myself. We were scheduled to hit the...uh...Brookfield(?) Zoo in Chicago, but, erm, ran out of time ^ ^;;
no subject
Date: 2007-04-26 02:50 am (UTC)Yeah, that was pretty much our reaction. It was one of our goals in life to make a liar out of our mom. She claims that we've never seen her drunk and never will.
The only part that got to me was having no use for the shorts I packed. In fact, I could have done with a bit more cloud cover at the zoo since I got a sunburn on the top of my face and sides of my neck.
My father did the driving, but yeah. I'll add the zoo to the list of touristy things to do with ya the next time I'm in the area.