In which nothing was set on fire, despite of many misgivings

Due to circumstances that don't need to be explored at this juncture, I picked up Anna and Victoria yesterday and we went over to Kate's place, arrived, and was "babysat" by Lusine, who was very blue and prone to freezing, leaving us with impressions of facial spasms and weird robotic intonations where half of every third word appeared to be missing, swallowed by the wasteland of non-space in the internets. Our theory was to blame the internet connection, which may or may not be related to the trouble Victoria had with cellphone reception and the fact that Foster City appears to be built on a marsh (where the two castles that sank prior to this one didn't put anyone off at all) (kidding, but all the oceanic names in the region is pretty funny). Then Kate fed us and introduced us to the wonder that is Xbox Kinect, which is very creepy because only not does it have avatars that mimic your every motion (so long as you stand in the right area), but the sensors capture random photos of you mid-play, as well. Kinect sports was pretty fun, but it's Kinect Adventures that (surprisingly) required the most amount of exercise -- one of them essentially had us doing sort-of jumping-jacks from squatting positions while flailing around wildly with our arms. It's astonishing that no one got injured when we did side-by-side playing with two-people teams, given the amount of flailing. The most important thing about this gaming system, however, is that it is hilarious to watch others play.

(Kate also introduced us -- by which I mean Christine, Anna and I, since Victoria already has this -- to the wonders of vacuum-sealed stuff animals. Seeing all that fuzziness deflated and squished together like a giant bag of vacuum-sealed grocery was a bit disturbing, but oddly enthralling.)

We watched the movie 2012, pausing around midnight for the Times Square thing (that bit was fun, there were party poppers and champagne and everything), and the movie was really awful. We were waxing sarcastic over the atrocious science, because the movie started with the premise that increase in neutrinos (yes, that neutrino, as in same root word as neutrons, as in very small thing with no charge that we get bombarded with every single day with no effect of whatsoever) (why did they not use positrons? They are charged, they'll explode--well, sort of--if you put them together with electrons and so make more sense for exciting apocalyptic scenarios, and positrons deserve more love in the realm of pop culture) from solar flares will cause the earth's core to melt from the inside out. And the science gets worse from there. The sub-plots -- emotional family bonding type thing -- complete with boyfriend, girfriend, ex's, jealousies, and vindication--made us groan. The protagonists all displayed a shocking lack of common sense and self-preservation. Any character that remotely caught my interest all died.

Christine, who arrived via her parents, suggested that we watch 2012 for our 2012 get-together. I'm still debating whether the ironic humor is worth putting myself through it again. It caused me pain. And it's long.

The wind-chime from Kate's neighbors, when heard through the walls, sounded like the alarm going off in the lab down the corridor. Despite of this I managed to sleep, woke up way too early (think 7:30am), went to bug Christine (who didn't sleep at all), and ended up finishing part I of a copy of TESS D'URBERVILLES that I found, over tea. (It was a much faster read then ATLAS SHRUGGED.) Then Kate fed us again (she did so love to order us about; it was funny) and everyone trooped out.

The weather seems to be getting steadily less promising since then. The weather here for tomorrow has changed from shower to rain but at least the weather in San Diego has changed from shower to partly cloudy, so there is hope yet.

I have returned the books to the library and am now packing.

My parents are periodically shoving food at me. Such is the nature of parental affections.

I will head out first thing tomorrow morning and endeavor to make the full length trip between bay area and San Diego in one day. Cheers.