California Dreaming

[hrj]

I think I may have started thawing out finally, thanks to the heat wave of the last few days. Saturday I was down in LA (Diamond Bar, to be precise) for my cousin's 25th wedding anniversary. It turned into a real family reunion, with most of the west coast cousins in attendance, including the celebrant's sister whom most of us haven't seen a decade or two. The party was your typical California melting-pot-with-undissolved-chunks: held at an Indian restaurant with my cousin-in-law's immediate family in traditional Korean outfits (come to that, my cousin wore a traditional Korean outfit too, which looks ... odd ... on his decidedly Scandinavian-looking frame). Dinner was followed by multilingual karaoke (I sang a duet with my aunt) and dancing to a rather eclectic series of songs (the karaoke dj seemed quite talented at spinning off the song selections for filler music -- although the volume got quite painful as the hours wore on).

Today's checklist: Other Change of Hobbit for books, Berkeley Bowl for groceries, Stonemountain for yard goods, and Toyota Berkeley for a Prius test-drive and formally submitting my features-and-color request. (I mentioned to the salesman that it would be delightful -- although not a requirement -- if I were able to pick it up on the 12th. And when I requested it, he allowed as how a nice ribbon bow on top would be easily manageable.

Comments

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

I'm charmed at the thought that car dealers actually have those large bows you see in the commercials.

[scotica.livejournal.com]

I thought you were going to be in Kalamazoo on the 12th?

[hrj.livejournal.com]

Well, what he said was that he could get one from the Walgren's across the street. (Hey, he's got to do some work for his commission, after all.) So I don't think it's going to be a BIG bow. But the idea is the important thing.

[hrj.livejournal.com]

Up until about 3am, yes. Then I'm going to get up at that ungodly hour, drive my rental car to Chicago, and fly home. And one of the reasons I went for an early morning flight from Chicago was so that I'd get home in time to pick up my birthday present on my birthday. It's both important and unimportant to me. If the dealer hasn't happened to get their hands on the car I want by the 12th, then I'll simply wait until they do. But if they've gotten one, then I want to do at least that one thing on the day itself.

The salesman tried to entice me to buy today with stories of special sale prices, but I pointed out that since I'm still waiting on my tax refund and on the CD to mature, there's simply no way no how I was buying today.