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argurotoxosThursday was the day Cheryl came to visit. Kelsey came over, too, and we spent several hours driving around to various stores in Salem. It was during this outing that I finally found a bookstore that had Anne Rice's Cry To Heaven in stock. I bought it immediately and, upon showing it to Kelsey, learned that she was also an Anne Rice fan and that Armand was also her favourite character from the Vampire Chronicles.
Right now, I'm about half-way through Cry To Heaven and I think I may like it even more than any of Rice's Vampire Chronicles books. Her writing style in it reminds me of Mary Renault's, but with Rice's taste for the explicit (as opposed to Renault's love of the subtle).
If there's one thing that struck me while browsing through various stores, both on Thursday and on the Monday and Wednesday after, it's that my taste in music must be remarkably unusual; I couldn't find a single CD for any of the three main artists I was looking for (Era, Chiasm, and E Nomine). I did find a few Assemblage 23 CDs and one used Apocalyptica album, but I decided to hold off on buying anything and to stick to online ordering to satisfy my musical predilections.
After we got back to Kun's house, we started a game of Scattergories, which was fun after Kelsey and I inadvertently played the first round incorrectly. (Apparently, we don't follow the proper rules when I play with my parents.) However, after our lunch break, which consisted of some wonderful chicken katsu made by Kun's mother, we never got back to playing. I think we must've all been low on energy and all I remember is sitting next to Kelsey on the couch while Sponge Bob was playing on the TV.
There's nothing else I have in my notepad for Thursday and I don't remember anything other major events happening that day, so with that, on to Friday.
Kun had an appointment with her college guidance councilor Friday morning and I offered to go with her; I was rather curious about what kind of university she would be going to in the Fall. To entertain myself while Kun was in her meeting, I brought two of Kun's manga with me: the first volume of Houshin Engi and the first volume of Black Cat.
The university Kun's going to is about twenty minutes away from her house, which is a definite advantage as she's decided she doesn't want to live in any dorms and will be commuting to class. As far as I could tell, the campus consisted of only one building, maybe five stories high including the basement levels. It's very small and very quiet, at least when we were there. Classrooms for approximately fifteen students were tucked into corners sporadically as we walked up to the admissions desk on the third floor. I took a quick glance through the university's course offerings and none of my varied majors or minors - Philosophy, Japanese, East Asian Studies, or Classics - were even offered.
After her meeting, Kun told me that she could take Japanese through another New Hampshire college, possibly starting Spring 2008 if everything works out. In the meantime, however, she has to take the introductory English and mathematics classes, together with a music class and a forth one that escapes me.
On the way back to Kun's house, we stopped at Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast and at a local farm to buy some delicious fresh strawberries, chocolate milk, and fudge. Once home, we decided to watch some anime and started with the first episode of Harukanaru Toki no Naka de. Harukanaru is based off of the same legend that Fushigi Yuugi is - the one about the Priestess of Suzaku who must gather together a certain number of warriors before she can summon the god - but it actually reminded me of some kind of crossover between Fushigi Yuugi and Kyou Kara Maou when I watched it. It seems like a series I would have really liked about six years ago, but now . . . Only seeing more episodes can tell.
After Harukanaru, we moved into the anime of Houshin Engi, which there will be more about later. (I've decided to put my reactions to Tales of Legendia, Houshin Engi, and Black Cat in their own entry.)
The main event of Friday, however, was not anime viewing or college visiting. Instead, it was a trip to Canobie Lake.
I had heard of Canobie Lake months earlier from both Kun and Tomo, who had said after AnimeBoston 2006 that they'd like to take me there sometime. From the title, I had assumed it was some kind of camping site and hadn't seen the need to investigate further. When I learned that Canobie Lake was actually an amusement park, I was both taken aback and excited.
Canobie was the first time I've been to an amusement park in probably five years. Kun, Chris, Kelsey, Kevin, and myself arrived slightly after 5 PM so that we could take advantage of their reduced evening prices. They also had a deal where you could get one person in free for every two paying people if you brought a certain kind of pop can. With those two discounts combined, we only paid $12 per person for five hours of park fun.
Tomo's entire family already had plans to go to Canobie this day, so we met Tomo at the park and then made our way to various rides. We started with DaVinci's Dream, a swing ride, and then moved on to the Turkish Twist, the ride that spins you around in a circle very fast before dropping the floor out from under you. The Boston Tea Party, a water ride where you can get wetter by standing on the bridge opposite the ride's ending that by taking the ride itself because of the huge spray of water the boat creates when it hits the pool area.
We split up for dinner, Chris getting chicken and Tomo going for pizza while Kevin, Kun, Kelsey, and I waited in line for Mexican. Partially because of the raised prices of food in the park, partially because it was starting to become habitual, we bought food with a communal mindset and shared everything among each other.
We weren't able to get on every ride before the park closed, but we did pretty well. After dinner was the Psychodrome, a Scrambler ridden in the dark with laser beams and music playing. Chris, Kelsey, and I shared a seat and realized too late that we had gotten the height order reversed. Fortunately, I ended up not getting squished, unlike other Scramblers I've been on.
Kelsey, Tomo, and I went on a second water ride while everyone else sat out and bought caramel apples. Conversely, Kun and Tomo sat out while the rest of us went on the Skater, which was set up like a giant skateboard and apparently replaced what used to be the best ride in the park. All six of us rode the Corkscrew Coaster, the Yankee Cannonball - an actual wooden roller coaster, and what has affectionately been dubbed The Flying Cocks, which is like a swing ride but with cars shaped like roosters. We also went on the Bumper Cars twice.
It was about 10:20 PM when we left the park, happily tired from a day's fun. We tried unsuccessfully to stop at a Wendy's for some drinks and snacks, but they were closing at 11 PM and wouldn't let us all order.
After dropping everyone else off at home, Kun and I made out way slowly up to Kun's bedroom, only to find two cats asleep on the bed. After getting them off, we quickly fell asleep.
Saturday was 'The Adventure To Newick's - Take Two!'. After Kun and I had been unsuccessful in our attempt to find aforementioned seafood restaurant on Tuesday, Kun's mum had said she would take us after her dad had come back from a business trip. And so, Saturday afternoon, Kun's parents, Kun, Chris, and myself set out for Newick's. Again.
One of the most puzzling things, which we never did figure out, was how Kun's mum got a completely different set of directions from the same website we had used and for the same location. Regardless, it worked and we made it there easily. Unfortunately, while the food was good, it apparently wasn't up to the quality they had remembered.
On the way bad Kun had to keep opening the window for, ah, gaseous reasons. She hates using public bathrooms, so she ran into the house as quickly as she could once we arrive home. (It was an hour's drive each way.)
Sunday was the day that Kun's sister came home, bringing her dog, Bear, with her. Kun's grandparents on her mother's side also came over and Kun's mum and sister made a huge, delicious dinner - salmon, chicken, potatoes, tomatoes soaked in a dressing with slices of mozzarella cheese on top, shrimp kabobs, and rice.
Before dinner, Kun and I spent several hours listening to Yuu Yuu Hakusho and Hunter x Hunter music. Kun decided that Leorio's image song, 'Dancing Yodel Night', was simply hilarious; I consider it more traumatizing than anything. We also made a quick run out to Staples; Kun wanted a new CD case and I needed more red Sharpie markers after my Hisoka one had started running out on me on Wednesday.
I believe this was also the night that I introduced Kun to the Drabble-Matic. Hee.
Monday was Kun and Chris' two year anniversary. I had felt somewhat guilty about being around on their day, but Kun decided to turn the day into a friends' day out and invited Kevin along. We ate lunch at Yuki's, a Japanese restaurant, and then headed over to the mall on a quest to find a silver ring that fit Chris.
Along our quest, Kun bought one of the new release versions of Yuu Yuu Hakusho that had episodes from the Dark Tournament on it, ending with the Kurama vs Karasu fight. Chris also almost got a ring stuck on his finger when we discovered it was half a size too small.
For dinner, we went to Cracker Barrel's, which I also bought a box of Buckeyes (a delicious candy that's almost like a Reese's, with a peanut butter filling and a chocolate outside that's popular in Ohio).
We stopped in two different video stores on the way back with thoughts of renting something, but we never did. Once we got back to Kun's, Kun and Kevin decided to try out Kun's newly repaired pool while Chris and I stood on the sidelines and ran away from bugs.
The final big event on Monday was that Kun got pulled over by a cop for the first time while taking Kevin and Chris home. She wasn't sure what the speed limit was and thought it was 50 MPH, but it turned out to be 40. Fortunately, the cop only let her off with a verbal warning and that was that. Kun actually seemed excited about it and her parents weren't upset when she told them the next day.
(I also had a very weird dream this night. The first part was set up like a computer game and I had to find my way out of a large university area with the help of Yuusuke, Hiei, and Kurama. The second part was even more bizarre and consisted of myself dressed up as a Grim Reaper with at least a dozen others, all dancing and singing while swinging our scythes as if on a Broadway stage.)
Tuesday was the day we had first planned to get our hair cut, but we decided to stay at home all day. We made waffles for breakfast and then spent the day lounging around the house together and watching Houshin Engi and Yuu Yuu Hakusho. It was one of those days that is almost perfect in its non-eventfulness in the most positive sense.
Tomo surprised us with a visit Tuesday evening, calling Kun's cell phone only to tell her, "I'm outside your door."
With Tomo now with us, we watched clips of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, along with a few other comedy clips that Tomo showed us. For some reason, however, I started to feel tired early and Kun had to wake me from a dozing sleep to say 'goodbye' to Tomo.
Until Wednesday, anyway.
Next: 06 - Wednesday, The Fourth of July, to Friday, 6 July
(After that, there will be one semi-review post for Black Cat, Houshin Engi, and Tales of Legendia. Following will be a post about cosplay for 2008, which will tie up the end of the New Hampshire journey reports.)
