*Yawn* Crabby Sleep (-.-)
I went to sleep at 2:00am. I woke up at 5:45am Saturday morning. I could not go back to sleep. At 6:30am, I woke up fully. I checked the car including the oil and tire pressure. I took my time to avoid arriving at 8:00am and to give Punkbuster additional time to sleep and get ready. I got gas and washed the front windows, rear windows, and headlights at 7:45am. Never neglect keeping the headlines clean >__>
I arrived at the hotel at 8:00am. I said to myself there is no problem because Punkbuster is an early person `__* Oops. Punkbuster was not ready at 8:00am and she expected me at 8:15am. She was surprised and she was OK I arrived early nevertheless. Punkbuster had trouble falling asleep. We headed downstairs at 8:35am for the continental breakfast. Punkbuster saw the line and said forget it. She hated to wait.
I suggested we eat at Stacks in Campbell. She said OK. We talked about comic book stores including a comic book store Punkbuster used to shop where she received discounts because she knew the owner. We arrived at Stacks at 8:50am. The restaurant was full inside and the hostess gave us the option to eat outdoors. We said yes. I ordered the sausage and mushroom skillet and Punkbuster ordered the banana waffle with a side of eggs overeasy. Punkbuster got along with the waitress easily and she initiated small talk from our first orders to getting a take out box :) We talked about the ups and down of our families including our siblings. Most of our families either live in our home state or in nearby cities. Each of us has one family member and their family living out of state. We also talked about our past jobs. One job Punkbuster lasted two weeks because she was trained for a job and was given a different position. And we talked about college.
The breakfast was delicious. I ate half my breakfast because I was not hungry. I don’t know why. Punkbuster ate most of her breakfast.
WTH? No Tickets to Alcatraz
We drove from Campbell to San Francisco at 9:40am. I showed Punkbuster the nearby cities where I live and all the cities minutes away on a map. We arrived at San Francisco Pier 39 parking garage at 10:45am. We missed the parking garage closer to Fisherman’s Warf which has the early bird $10.00 all day parking special. Oh, well. I told Punkbuster the story how my two uncle’s family on my Mom’s side visited my house every Saturday when my Grandfather on my Mom’s side was in a care home. My Mom picked my Grandfather up and he, my family, and my two Uncle’s families spend Saturday evening at my house to keep Grandfather company. We did the Saturday visit from February 2005 to December 2006. I hung out with my cousins watching anime, playing video games, or playing board games. Punkbuster told me about Bug Love :3
The Alcatraz tickets and boat docking are located at Pier 36. We walked to the pier to get tickets. All tickets were sold out today, Sunday, and Monday. No fricken way :< We felt sorry for the foreigners who didn’t know they could purchase advanced tickets on the website. We knew the advanced tickets which we didn’t purchase because of the surcharge and we were not sure what day we visited Alcatraz. The extra time allowed us to visit more places.
We walked back to Pier 39. Punkbuster wanted to visit Candy Baron to purchase candy for her co-workers and friends back home. I noted the Lefty Store along the way. Punkbuster is left handed. I adore left handed people =) We stopped at Hollywood USA briefly to check out any Family Guy memorabilia. There was none. I wanted to see Brian memorabilia. The next stop was Candy Baron. Punkbuster purchased a variety of candy including salt-water. She paid with a credit card and her signature she wrote “See Photo ID.” The cashier looked at her photo ID. Smart :D Candy Baron was at the end of Pier 39. We walked to the end of the pier and took pictures of us with Alcatraz on the background. Then we walked to the left side of the pier to watch the Sea Lions.
We walked to Fisherman’s Warf at 12:15pm. We were not hungry for lunch. We passed by the sourdough bread restaurant. Punkbuster likes sourdough bread and I like the regular or sweet bread. We talked about the Wax Museum a waste of money. All we see are famous people made out of wax. We saw a shinny guy available for pictures taking. Shinny, shinny, shinny XD I made a comment after the picture how could he survive in the sun and the warmer than usual San Francisco temperature. Punkbuster said he smelled :O LOL
We arrived at Musee Mechanique, an arcade museum at the edge of Fisherman’s Warf by the San Francisco Bay. Admission is free. There are classic arcade games from the early 1900s to today including pinball, fortune telling machines, and watching short movies. Punkbuster played the Indian a Jones pinball game. We played Metal Slug 3 together. We needed cheats ~~ And each of us played the old baseball games where you hit a ball at specific areas for either a hit or an out. We tied each other two out of three baseball games we played scoring two runs each on the ties. Punkbuster played softball when she was a kid.
The next place to visit was Ghirardelli Square. We first stopped at Majestic Collection, a store with expensive fine art collections, decorations, and gallery for the home. Does anyone want to pay $56,000 for a monkey statue? We shared our thoughts what if we are rich and do we want to buy these expensive antiques. We also joked what if we became art smugglers. Punkbuster eyed the chandeliers which explains why she likes shinny objects @__@ Next, we found a store selling knock off sunglasses. Punkbuster wore a big frame, white color sunglasses. The sunglasses reminded me of Sir Elton John. Punkbuster likes to make funny faces and she made plenty of funny faces. Funny! We saw the Segway tours, a place to ride Segways and tour San Francisco with a tour guide.
Better Be The Best Damn $3.00 Cupcake
Punkbuster knew a store at Ghirardelli Square selling $3.00 cupcakes. The store is Kara’s Cupcakes. The size of the cupcake is the same size as a supermarket cupcake. Punkbuster ordered the raspberry and I ordered the vanilla. We ate the cupcakes and it was good. My thoughts are the $3.00 is paying for the overhyped, rich frosting and the cake itself tasted like a supermarket cupcake. Punkbuster’s raspberry is really sweet. Both of us can say, “We ate a $3.00 cupcake.” Halfway eating our cupcakes, a bird flew in the store and was trapped. A customer took some napkins to protect her hand, grabbed the bird, and placed the bird on the outside of the store. There’s a hero.
We visited the Ghirardelli Square store where we ate a sample chocolate and peanut better square. Delicious. I purchased a 25 pack of milk chocolate. Most of Ghirardelli Square is being renovated and most of the stores we didn’t care for. We did a quick walk on the other side of the square and then walk back to Pier 39 parking garage. I realized I lost my jacket. We backtracked to Kara’s Cupcakes and Ghirardelli Square store. No luck. No worries. The jacket was an inexpensive wind breaker. We took a break from walking and we settled at Aquatic Park overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge for about 10 minutes. Punkbuster applied more sun screen which she applied several times throughout the day. We saw an old ship from the colonel days.
The time is 2:35pm and we arrived back at Pier 39 parking garage. The next destination is Japantown. Anime and manga FTW. We saw the famous Lombard Street, the most crooked street in the world. We talked about apartment rents in San Francisco. I didn’t know the rent range in San Francisco. I know it’s expensive likely at least $1,000 a month. We also talked about what type of city or country we want to live at. Do we want to live in downtown such as San Francisco, suburb such as Tempe, big city such as Los Angeles, or a small country? We passed by the hotel Punkbuster and her friends stayed at when they visited San Francisco earlier in 2008. And more bug love.
Konnichiwa Japantown
We arrived at Japantown at 3pm. The crowd was average for a quiet and uneventful Saturday. The first shop we visited was I think the name is Japantown Collectibles at the Kinokuniya Building. The toy and hobby shop sold anime figurines, models, board games, and plushies. We were looking for a gift to give to Dragonzyez from me. We found a potential gift which was a Super Mario Brothers 1Up green mushroom. Dragonzyez likes 1Up mushrooms.
Second store we visited was Kinokuniya Bookstore. We continued to look for Dragonzyez’s gift. We found a Naruto art book. Dragonzyez is a Naruto fan. I found a Spirited Away art and story book. We saw the Full Metal Alchemist manga Volume 20 officially announcing there is another TV season. We choose the buy the Naruto art book and Spirited Away books last. We walked to Sophie’s Crepes. I ordered the strawberry and French Vanilla crepe. After eating the crepe, I got a stomach ache. Not good T__T
I went to the car to change my shirt from my polo to a white t-shirt. The weather was unseasonably warm and Japantown was hot inside. Then we crossed the Webster Street Bridge and walked through the Kintetsu building. I showed Punkbuster the 2008 Cherry Blossom Pictures at Japan Video. We saw Lisu in the pictures. I showed her the grand prize winning cosplayers and they won six out of the last seven contests. We arrived at Peace Plaza and we took a brief rest at the Pagoda. I showed Punkbuster the location my first cosplay action pose during Japantown Anime Faire II in September 2004. The rest of the walking around Japantown took five minutes because there was nothing at Buchanan Mall and we took a brief walk through Ichiban Store.
I wanted Punkbuster to try Calpico. We went to Nijiya Market at 4:45pm to purchase a strawberry Calpico. The line was long. Calpico has no carbonation. Punkbuster is sensitive to soda carbonation. Punkbuster wanted me to try Mexican Soda which I never heard of before. Unfortunately, she forgot to bring a can. Next time ^__^ We went back to Kinokuniya Bookstore to purchase the Naruto art book and Spirited Away art and story book. Punkbuster contacted Dragonzyez and she didn’t have the Naruto art book.
The Metreon
We had extra time before dinner and because we didn’t go to Alcatraz, we visited The Metreon. We entered The Metreon at 5:30pm. The place was dead. The first store we entered was the Playstation store. There were lots of Playstation 3 demos and PSP demos. One of the workers said no photography. No big deal *__* Next, we went to the second floor and entered the arcade. Along the way we saw the games making the “walk of fame” including Starcraft and The Legend of Zelda. Punkbuster played two DDR games while I went to the restroom. Damn tummy ache w__w I returned and saw her patiently waiting for me. She said the two DDR games she played were broken.
We walked around the third floor which was the IMAX movie theatres. I saw a classic Aliens shooting game. I played one game. It was hard to see with the glare. My friends are correct. Go to the Metreon to watch IMAX movie theatres only.
Brrrrr . . .
The last stop before dinner was Treasure Island. We arrived at 6:30pm. We visited the location where the Nor Cal Cosplay Picnic took place in June. I told Punkbuster people who live on Treasure Island their utilities are free—at least gas is free because there are no meters. There is a decommissioned naval base. We stayed briefly because it was cold and windy. The weather was my favorite conditions and not Punkbuster’s favorite conditions. We took some good pictures of San Francisco as the background. Brrrr @__@
Finally Real Food
We ate dinner at my cousin’s restaurant Happy Sashimi in Pinole. My cousin is a co-owner and a sushi-chef. First, we stopped at Trader Joe’s to purchase JoeJoe’s and ginger snaps cookies for the T-Shirt gathering later in the evening.
At 7:15pm, we entered Happy Sashimi. We seated at the sushi bar. My cousin in-law came out minutes later and she met Punkbuster. Then we ordered our meals. Punkbuster ordered the Yaki Soba. I ordered the ramen and gyoza appetizer. I ordered the ramen because of my tummy ache. After we ordered, my cousin came out and talked with us. The gyoza arrived minutes later. Punkbuster and my cousin talked about the restaurant business and dumb customers including how waiters and waitresses must work during peak times. My cousin said restaurants have no reason to screw a customer’s meal and give poor service. Punkbuster agreed. Restaurants depend on repeat customers to stay in business. We also talked about broken bones and with the sushi chef, too. Punkbuster was nice to give me the fifth and last piece. Our dinners arrived. Punkbuster enjoyed her Yaki Soba including the good portions of seafood. The ramen was perfect for me and my stomach ache. I saw Punkbuster hold the chopsticks with her left hand. It’s awesome. Punkbuster had trouble with the chopsticks twice. Not awesome. The sushi chef and our waitress joked asking her if she needed a fork.
My cousin didn’t charge me for the soda and the bowl of rice. I added extra on the tip to pay for the soda and the bowl of rice. Punkbuster needed to take her Yaki Soba home. We drove off my cousin’s restaurant and headed to the T-Shirt gathering in San Jose.
T-Shirt Gathering
We arrived at Jerry’s place for the T-Shirt gathering at 9:15pm. Punkbuster had a blast meeting more new people including Felicity, Loktera, Edendreams, kandybar, Steve.Young, Amelia Seyrunn, and the sugars ^__^ She played Scategories and Battle of the Sexes. Battle of the Sexes is biased and favored for the girls to win. Punkbuster did make a t-shirt. She didn’t finish and Jerry offered to mail the shirt to her. She declined. I took a nap and participate in no events and no games. I didn’t make a t-shirt. Sorry, Felicity =(
Punkbuster and I took off at 12:45am. We talked about the time we meet for Santa Cruz and Monterey. We agreed 10:00am. Lesson learned for the day: Never skip a meal on a vacation.
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