The Magic Mountain

So for the wkend of July 18th to July 20th, I was in So(uthern) Cal(ifornia).

Now, to be frank, (Hi Frankkkkkk), So Cal and I have a sort of love hate relationship. I HATE So Cal, and it loves to SCREW me over everytime I'm down there.

The start to the trip was innocent enough. I left my office in Northern SF at 5 ish to make it to SFO for my 7:15 Flight which starts boarding at 6:50. Come 6:15, I could see Pacbell Park where the Giants get clobbered every other day. Yeah, for an hour of travel time, I was still in SF.

Like I said, innocent enough. I got through security and on the plane at 7:20, since there was a delay that kept the plane on the ground for me.

I called my friends, who had left SF at 4 in the morning to get down to LA by 10 AM, and asked them to make sure they were at LAX by the time I landed. I had called them when I was leaving my office. As we're boarding, letting them know I'd be in the air for less than an Hr, and that I was hoping they'd be at LAX waiting for me. They told me they were all hungry and wanted to grab a bite to eat. So I asked them to try and find a place to eat around LAX, since it was a Friday nite, there'd be traffic, and up until that point, they were the only mode of transportation.

I call them, when I land, since well, I had expected them to be at LAX when I landed. Let me back track some. These 5 people ALL knew I was going to be flying into LA, since I couldn't leave SF at the same time as them. I confirmed it the SAME DAY as they were getting lunch in LA.

So come dinner time, I was thinking they'd be at least within taxi cab distance, since our hotel was in Santa Clarita, which is about 40-45 mins from LAX, depending on traffic or so I was told.

And of course, they weren't there. Nope, when I had called them after I landed, they had just been seated. A little frustrated by now with what was going on, I asked where they were, and to see if the our friend who was driving could get me, seeing that as soon as I stepped out to the curb at LAX, there was car to car traffic.

He pretty much said, NOPE, and went back to ordering dinner. So I thought to myself, oh what the hell, I just flew down here, at least I can meet up with them for dinner, let's take a Taxi out to wherever they are.

Okay, let's recap what we have so far. We have me. I woke up at 3 something in the morning to help them pack and get together so they could leave at 4 in the morning for the drive down to LA. I couldn't go back to sleep, so I stayed up and went to work, and tried to grab an hour of sleep on the plane ride down. I had no dinner, and I had lunch at 1130, since I was feeling pretty beat by that time. So coming to LAX, I was tired and exhausted.

Let's look at my friends. There were 5 of them. They all took turns driving down, so they could each get a decent amount of sleep. They went to Venice Beach at 10ish, and went sightseeing and taking pics, and enjoying the areas of LA that they got to visit. They watched "The Dark Knight" and were snacking on stuff they brought down from the road, and then had a late lunch at 2ish after the movie, and had Roscoe's Fried Chicken and Waffles. Then come around 7ish they wanted dinner. And by 8, they were seated.

Now that the comparison's over, let's get back to the main story. I hop into the cab, and get the address from my friends about which restaurant and where. I was at LAX, they were in Alhambra. Yep. They chose to eat in ALHAMBRA of all places. For a bit of time reference, it's about 25 minutes by freeway without traffic or so I was told by friends and the cab driver. Of course, being Friday, and right by LAX, I was S-O-L with being 25 minutes away.

About 20 minutes into the ride, I was 50 bucks into the cab ride, and I received a phone call from my friends, asking where I was, and if possible, maybe I can just stay in the cab and ride it out to the hotel in Santa Clarita. Now keep in mind, my air far was $130 after tax ( I bought my ticket on Thursday instead of Tuesday like I planned, screwing myself of $30.00)

I took one look at the cab meter and the driver who was speaking in hushed tones into his Bluetooth the whole ride, and decidedly told them that, no, they weren't leavin' until I got there, and that if they were expecting me to cab out to the hotel, I was just going to turn the cab around and head home. The cab ride out to Santa Clarita would have been more expensive than my blasted plane ticket TO LA to begin with. So another 15 minutes later, I got to my destination, and was $80.00 lighter.

Up until this point in my weekend trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain, I only had 2 rides, one on a plane, and one in a cab, and neither were fun. Oh yeah. That and the fact it had cost me $210 up until this point. I spent $210 and I hadn't even gotten on a rollercoaster yet, and yet I was sick to my stomach and wanted to go home already.

When I get there, my friends hand me a piece of Mochi from dessert and 4 little boxes leftover from take out. Yay. When I had told them I was going to cab it over, I asked them to order me some beef chow fun so I could have SOME food by the time I got there. So when I was handed basically four of the smallest of the smallest boxes Chinese restaurants give for take out, I was more than a little annoyed. Apparently, the waiter had not heard the "To-Go" part of my order of Beef Chow Fun and brought it out with their entrees. And everyone dug into it, without a second thought. So I didn't even get a bite of that. Instead, after I was done eating it, it turned out I got 2 scoops of rice, 4 honey walnut prawns, with more nuts than praws, 6 pieces of gai lan without any sauce, and 3 pieces of pork. Yep. That held my hunger over for about 15 minutes. Never mind my blood pressure at this point.

Well, forsake my temper for now, I'm there with my friends, and for better or worse, I was stuck with them for the duration of the trip, so why rip them up now.

So when we all got back to the hotel (no talk about my flight or the cab ride over, of course), they all went to bed early, while I grabbed my swimming trunks and flip flops and a tank top. I hit the fitness center and worked off some of the stress until I could barely hobble away. I then lounged in the pool, and soaked it up in the jacuzzi before I went to bed. I wanted to make sure I had done SOME form of relaxation before I ran into anyone else again.

The next morning was smoother. We all got together, and got breakfast before heading over to the theme park. It was 930 in the morning, and it was 87 degrees in the shade at the front gates of Magic Mountain. (BUT IT'S A DRY HEAT!!)

As soon as the park threw open its gates to the throngs of people outside it was 10 o'clock.

People were RUNNING to whatever rides they wanted first, so our puny lil group decided, what the hell, let's just hit the popular rides first before it gets REALLY crowded. So we hit X2 first (45 minute wait), then hit Viper RIGHT after an Hr wait. I liked Viper the most out of all the rides we rode that day.

However, one of the girls decided that it'd be a good idea to hit a water ride, like Roaring Rapids. I was wearing my favorite pair of sneakers that day and not the most comfortable pair of draws that ride well when wet under my shorts. I had wanted to abstain from riding the ride, but it would be a 45 minute wait anyways, so I waited with them in line and chatted with them until we got to the front of the line.

I thought that I could hop over the ride and leave. Wrong. I thought that could head backwards in line. Wrong. I got dirty looks everywhere I went. So I hopped in the mother -effing boat. Worst mistake of the day. For a ride that guaranteed to soak each and every rider, it delivered. All 12 riders were soaked head to toe. Can you hear my enthusiasm?

I walked around for the next 8 hours with wet briefs and squeaky shoes. . . . by the time we were ready to leave the theme park at 1030, I was pretty pissed off cuz my drawers and my shoes were still wet through and through, and not it wasn't wet with anything else, BUT water.

After the theme park, we were going to decide on where to eat, but I pretty much dragged the driver of our little expedition aside and explained the situation to him, and he just drove us back to the hotel so I could shower and get my ass out of the friggen wet skin irritating chafing briefs and into some dry boxers.

I pretty much drank myself silly that evening, so that I could be sleeping, hungover or not, on the whole car ride back on Sunday. It was THAT friggen miserable for me. Yeh. I'm feelin' pretty peeved about the whole trip.

Whatever. It's over, and I'm back at the rat race again. Run in your wheel, slave!!