It is finished.

My purpose for the year has come to a close. The Slideshow's ready to go for this Saturday, and all I have to do until then is wait. Wait and hope. Well considering that I've been working on it from 9 to 3 every single day, that would explain my absence from the blogging world. I never wrote anything about prom, and it feels a bit too long after the fact to recount my story.

So I shall say that prom was one of the greatest nights of my life. Waltzing was icing on the cake. Post prom was epic, but in a different way. Oh, teenagers.

But moving on. Another Disneyland picture thing! Finally something different. I've grown tired of shooting PoTC.

With my new wide angle lens, I can finally get the sweeping shot of the Court de Anges that I've been looking for.


Ride Thunder Mountain for the first time in a LONG time.


The best part was definitely when the ride broke down. I had an interesting conversation with the Cast Members about photography and roller coaster physics (unrelated to each other), plus I got to see the innards of the ride.


All this wide angle madness is quite amusing! I can take shots that I couldn't before for whatever reason...


Last thing: New fireworks show. Not a fan so far, after seeing the first third or so that they were testing. But then, Sabby brought up the good point that even Remember would seem a bit awkward with only the first part of it. The cool thing is definitely that Dumbo flies across the Skyway cable, a la Tinkerbell. The lighting effects around the castle are also pretty ace.


Blogging for the sake of blogging. Meh.

Another day of Disney

Disneyland Thursday. Complete failure of a day in terms of getting things done. But it's alright. We have annual passes.

Got to Disneyland. Rode small world. Went to DCA. Freaking starving. Waited in a ridiculously slow-moving line for a hot dog. Now, that was a surprisingly decent hot dog. A spicy, peppery sausage (bit on the dry side) covered in barbecue sauce-drenched onions. The onions were pretty much tasteless, but they served to hold in the barbecue sauce and give the hot dog some texture.


Seriously running out of things to do. Mikie asked Crush about the economy. Turns out the value of the sand dollar's doing pretty well despite the economic downturn.

Watched Aladdin, which is still a favorite of mine.

I can show you the world
shining, shimmering, splendid

Waited for Ashley to finally arrive. Epic running hug :] I missed her, but now I don't have to anymore.

Accomplished little else. We were hungry. Royal St. Veranda for bread bowl goodness!

My usual, the Steak Gumbo. I'm glad I didn't get the clam chowder, for reasons which will be obvious soon enough.

We were already in New Orleans Square, so we headed over to The French Market to grab a chocolate cake. Devoured that thing. Poor cake didn't even have a fighting chance. Oh man, I love that cake. Luuuurv it.


3 out of 4 of my Disneyland pictures for the day are of food. Just goes to show what we accomplished. Nice.

Mulan, Shan Yu, Mushu, and Yzma.

What a tough day of finals. Making a contact sheet for photo, playing Jenga and Clue in Yearbook, eating enchiladas at Mikie's, then going to Disneyland. What is a poor boy like me to do with this intense workload?

I kid. Today was epic. Disneyland with some close friends? Yeah.

I hate to bore you all with the details, but this is more for me to remember in the future.

From the beginning, the guy at the Annual Pass center was awesome. He gave us permission to tickle anyone who didn't smile. People like that make me laugh.

So it was hot...the first attraction we did was run onto Splash Mountain. Five minute wait? Pretty much. The ride was bumpier than usual. Pain in the butt. Oh, and Alex wins the (nonexistent) contest for most epic ride photo.


With our wet jeans and sloshy feet, we formed the Squishy Feet Club! Mikie was shunned. Randomly headed over to the Pooh ride...tripped out. Major trip, man. Watch out for those heffalumps.

Sloshed over to The Blue Bayou where we had reservations. Enjoyed the meal thoroughly, after a back-and-forth of whether Ashley should get gumbo or salad. She got salad. Figures. Those darn healthy people. The table was filled with Montecristos and Mikie's shrimp thingy. Yummy. Oh, and before I forget, Alex is "in love with a flamboyant gay singer." His words, not mine.


and my Mint Julep...

Ernie, the blues guitarist, was playing from the balcony of the plantation house. Sandwiches for soul food, jazziness for some earfood. Awesome.

We got some to-go bags and Alex wrote our names on them. Spelling fail.


and since Ashley's birthday's coming up, I called in advance and arranged for some chocolate mousse birthday goodness. We tried to sing Happy Birthday and failed somewhat.


we left, fat and happy (and with significantly lighter wallets) and went to Indy, where we had gotten fastpasses some time before. The ride broke down, so we headed over to California Adventure. In the meantime, Mikie decided to sneak off and get Ashley a birthday pin, which resulted in 1000 or so people wishing her a happy birthday.


Off to the Tower of Terror we went, to fulfill a dream that I had of riding it a few nights ago. Not a dream as an aspiration, but something that my mind thought about during my sleep. Don't get them confused. Oh. WOW your MOM's a COW. MOO.


Next, we went to the Animation Building, possibly my favorite thing at DCA. We attempted to draw Winnie the Pooh and for the most part failed. Then we took some quizzes in Beast's Library, which explain the title.
Cogsworth: "Hello! Up here!" 3. 2. 1. *snap*


then we sang and acted in Ursula's Grotto, laughing all the while. The park closed, so we walked back on over the Disneyland. Mikie and I took Ashley and Alex into the reopened castle walkthrough. So puuurty. Then we walked around Fantasyland and hopped onto the carousel. I really wanted to go on it. Noooo idea why. Freaking cast member wouldn't let me ride backwards.




Right. So then we went to Astro Blasters. Me and Ashley versus Alex and Mikie. Guess who won? Oh, and they owed us a chocolate cake. I got something over a million. Woot.

This game makes my arm sore.

Got some Dole Whips then ate them in line for the Jungle Cruise. Vanquished the terrifying Dole Whip monster. Gar.



The skipper was quite entertaining. Got our daily dose of corniness that I so desired.

Then we headed back to Indy since it was closed earlier in the day. There was an OBEY sticker or two in the queue. Cool.


Rode it once. Enjoyed it. Rode it again. Enjoyed it more.
*spears flying everywhere*
Random guy in car: "Get down! Get down!"
*everyone actually listens*

The second time, we were the last ones in line for the night. Somehow, the girl and her mom we let go in front of us ended up being the last ones on the ride. Which means they got a car to themselves. It was also her birthday, so good for her. Hope she enjoyed it.

And because the park was closing by the time we got out of the ride, there was no one around. So what did Alex and I do? Run around like madmen with our cameras, of course.

The Indy queue. Deserted.


While leaving Adventureland, we all flipped out in the vast expanse that was the empty walkway. Not a soul to be seen. It was as if the park was keeping itself open solely for our own enjoyment. Lovely.

So I sprinted over to the castle, since no one was around it. Except for a security dude who politely moved aside. Sooo happy I got this picture without anyone in it.


Looked towards Tomorrowland. Snapped this shot off for fun.


As we walked down Main Street to end our day of awesomeness, I took one last picture of the park.


and Mikie was nice enough to talk a shot of me and Ashley. I hate pop-up flash.


ahhhh...twas another lovely day. Good food, good company, good music. And how weird to think that we were at school that morning? Hm.

Student Free Day!

So we had no school Monday, but because of freaking WASC I ended up at South until 2:00 anyways. I made up for my lack of a good sleeping in by going to Disneyland :D It was surprisingly busy on a weekday... all those parents taking their little kiddies out of school to enjoy the parks. Great. Come to think of it, my parents did that too when I was in kindergarten...

But anyways, I thought while I was there I would take some pictures. Turned out kinda nice, I think.

I love the holidays. In addition to the presents and food and all that good stuff, Jack redecorates the Haunted Mansion. Tim Burton + Haunted Mansion = Happy Andrew


Grabbed a dole whip in the 90 degree weather and enjoyed the (thankfully) air conditioned Tiki Room!


I've been meaning to take this shot for a while...


Those funny little name-plaque-tile thingies in the Esplanade:


One of my favorite details in the park.


so yeah, Disneyland is great for pictures. It's too bad I had Gov AP and Bio AP tests the next day. I really should've studied more instead of fooling around. Oh well, I think it was pretty much worth it...

Anyways, thanks for stopping by.