Ages ago I tried to write an essay about what I think makes The LEGO Movie so great. I was writing it on my eighteenth birthday, during the summer of 2016. I thought it was fitting, because I'm a big fan of LEGO, which is a children's toy, and it was the day I was no longer (legally) a child. That was the opener, and it was going come full circle and be the closer too.
But being the lazy busy guy I am, I didn't finish it. I lost track of my personal journals, interest in the project petered out, and I haven't touched it since. But now that I have an actual blog and a place to put things like that. Today's post isn't an essay, but simply a life update. I usually just post things relating to ideas I have and how I can take a look at them through the lens of prose, and in doing so I had forgotten that I'm posting on a personal blog.
So here's a blog of my 21st Birthday! A trip to San Fransisco.
It started as a pool/cake get-together at my place with most of my closest friends. A few who couldn't make the trip left for the night, and one who hadn't yet appeared showed up at the last minute to spend the night at my place. We spent an hour or so talking, putting together a commander deck for Magic: The Gathering, and reeling from an experience with a tiny spider that left us scarred and terrified. All in all, it was a good episode-opener.
In the morning, the last person of the trip made it just in time, and we headed out.
The drive there was mostly just jokes and music until we hit the pay tolls. Things slowed down considerably from there, our car inching along the highway among thousands of others. I never experience traffic like this, and let me tell you; it sucks. People cut you off, there's no way to predict who will use their blinker and who won't, and you'd be lucky not to slow down due to an accident up ahead.
The tunnels were fun though; there's something about the atmosphere of a dark tunnel with rows and rows of dim orange lights that makes me think of car chases in spy movies.
When we got into the city and parked, we had two general destinations in mind before we went on to Pier 39. Since it was my birthday, I wanted to make sure we got to a LEGO store. It's my intention to move relatively soon, and I'll be going to a state without a single LEGO store at all, so I wanted to go big with this trip. The next stop was, of course, Japantown, so we headed for Westfield San Fransisco Center since it was closer.
The buildings are just enormous there. Not as big as New York or Boston, I'm sure, but I just never see anything over five or six stories in my town. When they're massive and reaching, and all so close together... I really can't explain the sense of scale you start to feel. How everything inside each of those floors is something that scales exactly to you -- a person -- and how tiny it looks so far away, close to the sky. I'd probably never think about it like that if I had grown up there.
Crossing the streets was an adventure in and of itself. Children ran directly in front of me three whole times, and the sheer volume of characters you see performing and shouting and holding political signs is enough to make my small-city head spin. Not to mention the smell of shit on every other corner... there's even an app to help you avoid it... a world apart from dingy little Redding.
We made it to Westfield and went hunting for a LEGO store. Directly adjacent the pretzel stand, the red box logo stood out in its glowing glory, calling me forward.
I go pretty nuts in LEGO stores. I leave happy but still with the desire to spend just a little longer glaring at the options. I had some things on my list -- mostly Harry Potter stuff, and minifigures if I could -- but my biggest desire was a unique product with a unique license; The Upside Down, a Stranger Things set.
"Does anyone have a five?" - Aidan
The tunnels were fun though; there's something about the atmosphere of a dark tunnel with rows and rows of dim orange lights that makes me think of car chases in spy movies.
When we got into the city and parked, we had two general destinations in mind before we went on to Pier 39. Since it was my birthday, I wanted to make sure we got to a LEGO store. It's my intention to move relatively soon, and I'll be going to a state without a single LEGO store at all, so I wanted to go big with this trip. The next stop was, of course, Japantown, so we headed for Westfield San Fransisco Center since it was closer.
"What has more mass? Me or that building?" - Me to Brodie
"You." - Brodie
The buildings are just enormous there. Not as big as New York or Boston, I'm sure, but I just never see anything over five or six stories in my town. When they're massive and reaching, and all so close together... I really can't explain the sense of scale you start to feel. How everything inside each of those floors is something that scales exactly to you -- a person -- and how tiny it looks so far away, close to the sky. I'd probably never think about it like that if I had grown up there.
Crossing the streets was an adventure in and of itself. Children ran directly in front of me three whole times, and the sheer volume of characters you see performing and shouting and holding political signs is enough to make my small-city head spin. Not to mention the smell of shit on every other corner... there's even an app to help you avoid it... a world apart from dingy little Redding.
We made it to Westfield and went hunting for a LEGO store. Directly adjacent the pretzel stand, the red box logo stood out in its glowing glory, calling me forward.
I go pretty nuts in LEGO stores. I leave happy but still with the desire to spend just a little longer glaring at the options. I had some things on my list -- mostly Harry Potter stuff, and minifigures if I could -- but my biggest desire was a unique product with a unique license; The Upside Down, a Stranger Things set.
The box was so big that they had me put it behind the counter while I got my other things. Two of my friends got things as well, which I was happy for. It's hard not to feel like you're keeping people there, you know? The hobby isn't rare, and they like LEGO too, but it's difficult not to let the connotations of a toy store get to me if I stay in there with idle company too long.
We had a good time though.
Lunch was great. I only had a pretzel because my stomach was a bit upset on the drive, but once I got some food in me I felt much better.
(Disclaimer: the other two were in line)
Next up was Japantown; a place we all wanted to go. The food, the culture, the catering to our nature as anime geeks. But we had a bit of a problem on our hands; I had just purchased a $200 LEGO set, in a massive box no less. It was heavy, and the walk wasn't going to be short. We would either all have to walk back so I could put it in the car, or take a bus/train there and back at double the cost. I decided to suck it up and carry it throughout the city (they helped with that too). I'm sure it was a bit ridiculous that someone carted a huge yellow LEGO bag around the town, but then I remembered which city I was in and realized that it was far, far removed from something that anyone would notice.
Japantown, at this point, was still a ways away. We tried getting tickets for the Bart subway train, but complications led us to pick buses above ground instead. We hit all the benchmarks on the way out; puddles of water we had to step over, stragglers in their underwear asking us for quarters, stray animals and the smell of clogged toilets. Breathe in that city air, boys!
After an extensive amount of time trying to recall what the booth teller told us about riding the buses, we found the right route and hopped on. The Bart tickets would work for the accordion-shaped buses, of course, but to our surprise we just got waved on... no pay, no handing over the ticket, no nothing. Our friend Brodie looked it up and found out that the drivers of the bus units we'd picked were actually on strike, and didn't take pay as a sort of middle-finger to their employer. We used that to our advantage to get around the city, hopping buses three more times without paying a single cent. Twice we had to go running, and once we had to wave it down -- exactly like a movie.
And to Japantown we made it!
The best part of this little culture corner was how much cleaner it was than the rest of the city. Crowded, but cleaner. We were all looking forward to seeing
One thing that surprised me was some of the artist booths in the center of the right-half of the mall. I expected there to be anime merch, both official and bootleg -- posters and wall hangs and whatever else; but foolish me didn't expect there to be so much NSFW anime related things for sale in plain view; body pillows and wall scrolls of things better left unsaid.
This is one of the tamer collections.
But our destination as manga fans was none other than Kinokuniya, the bookstore behind the booth in the photo above. Titus, a friend of mine who is just as into the stuff as me, practically disappeared with how quickly he went inside. I followed suit, as did the others, and we walked in like ducks in a row waiting to get our filthy weeb hands on some filthy weeb books.
Down the stairs and to the right and there we were. I had completely lost track of Titus, and I got lost in the sea of the stuff myself. I wanted to get some Japanese volumes of some of my favorite titles. I love my books and my bookshelves, and while I wouldn't have been able to read them I'd love the collector's aspect -- as well as supporting the artists.
"On that day, humanity received a grim reminder..."
I had found myself Shingeki no Kyojin when I got a call from a friend of mine who wasn't able to make it, wishing me a happy birthday. He called me a slew of things I shouldn't repeat, degraded my character, told me a funny little story about some drama at his place of work, and wished me the best. He loves San Fransisco and left me a huge list of places to go, like the market in Japantown and the best spot on Pier 39, among other locales. I made a note to let the boys know when we got out of there.
But it was criminally hot in that place. You can say all you want about sweaty nerds, but it's like they were trying to make us sweat down there; no AC at all, not even any fans.
I wanted to get my hands on a copy of Shonen Jump, but God rest my soul was I out of it. I was still holding my $200 worth of LEGO, standing in a shop between dozens of other people with no AC and a bunch of new books to hold on top of that. I'm sure it was there, and if I had tried harder I would have found it, but I just couldn't. I was melting in there.
So we got our stuff. Aidan got A Silent Voice, Brodie got 20th Century Boys, Enrique got the new deluxe editions of Berserk, Titus got Konosuba, Kaguya Sama: Love is War, among others, and I got myself Vagabond, Doraemon, and Japanese editions of Attack on Titan.
Next up was the market! Parched and tired from the heat and the walk, we needed refreshments. Despite the line inside being so long, we grabbed our stuff and bounced.
"Ramune sighted." - Brodie
It surprised me quite a bit with how much quality Japanese food has. I've had rice snacks from there before, and each one was wrapped individually despite all of them being in a single bag. Ramune was no different; a carbonated drink you have to go through a process to actually consume; peeling off the plastic cap and popping it in, thus pushing down a small glass marble that sits in a groove and prevents too much from coming out at once. You don't see that level of detail from stuff here. Even their wheat pies had fresheners inside the bag.
(from left to right: Enrique, Titus, Brodie, Aidan, Me [Austin])
We hung out a bit, but we were on a curfew; be out of the city by 8. Since our next stop was Pier 39, the classic tourist spot, it was time we headed out, put our stuff in the car, and caught a bus. I'd been to the pier before, but it was more than five years ago at this point, so my memory was muddy.
We hopped a bus and went back to the parking garage, dropped off our goodies, and realized something dire -- two of us, me and Brodie, had lost our bus pass. Up until now we hadn't needed it, but we didn't want to take any chances and we were both short on cash. So, the garage being close to the bay, Enrique and I looked across the street and said, "We can walk. It's right over there."
We were wrong. Across the street was not in fact Pier 39, but Pier 1. What we thought would be hardly ten minutes turned into a 35 minute one-direction walk that nearly killed us. But we made it all the same.
We stepped onto the pier.
Everything was exactly as I had remembered it; too many people and too many places.
I saw things I hadn't seen in so long I thought I'd dreamt them. You know that feeling? The surreal, encompassing sensation you get when you realize, "Oh, this exists." Probably because I'd dreamed of it and hadn't disassociated it from the dream in ages, so the memories and the fantasy got muddled. To me, that's the 7D "Experience" ride you can go on. I didn't take any pictures of it, but it's a theater you sort of sit in that moves along with an audience-interactive movie. I remembered zombies, and thought maybe it was just a strange nightmare; but there they were, on a poster advertisement. The 7D zombies.
We made it to the end of the pier, where there is usually a live performance. You know -- just past the carousel. And there was; an awful magic show that, while intentionally bad to play up the laughs (performer drops things, can't do his act correctly, the whole of it), it was not successful in engaging the audience. Hardly anyone chuckled at what he was doing, and it made me feel some of the strongest second-hand embarrassment I'd felt in my life. It reminded me of when Ninja, the Fortnite streamer, tried to get Times Square to floss on New Years Eve -- and no one did it. Scarily bad.
But there it was; the inescapable prison.
I couldn't imagine what it would be like to hop off the side and try to swim to shore. The water's so cold, it's so far away... we would have done the tour but that stuff is expensive, long, and the wait is more than we could have planned for since we only had a day. We tossed a coin into the ocean for good luck, and took one last picture -- the best picture, I think.
It was great fun.
On the way back, we lost Titus again (and this time actually panicked), to which he came back and explained he'd only left to get a shake. The server didn't understand English, so he ended up with an ice cream cone after enough debate to make us wonder where he went. We walked back, hopped on a cable car (first time I'd ever ridden one!) and ended up having to pay for it. It was cramped and hot, but I'm starting to think that's just the experience of the city, you know?
In the end, when we had done what we came to do and left when the sun was setting, it was the ride back that made me realize how great the day had been. From switching drivers, to fighting over songs, to rapping over lo-fi, I came to see the journey as more than just a trip to see some places and get some things. I had done this with my friends, and that's what made it special.
21 now. All downhill from here, ha ha. Sorry the blog took so long, I'm busier than I want to be but I can still make time for these things! Media update coming soon!
Until next time -- keep reading, friends.
We stepped onto the pier.
Everything was exactly as I had remembered it; too many people and too many places.
I saw things I hadn't seen in so long I thought I'd dreamt them. You know that feeling? The surreal, encompassing sensation you get when you realize, "Oh, this exists." Probably because I'd dreamed of it and hadn't disassociated it from the dream in ages, so the memories and the fantasy got muddled. To me, that's the 7D "Experience" ride you can go on. I didn't take any pictures of it, but it's a theater you sort of sit in that moves along with an audience-interactive movie. I remembered zombies, and thought maybe it was just a strange nightmare; but there they were, on a poster advertisement. The 7D zombies.
We made it to the end of the pier, where there is usually a live performance. You know -- just past the carousel. And there was; an awful magic show that, while intentionally bad to play up the laughs (performer drops things, can't do his act correctly, the whole of it), it was not successful in engaging the audience. Hardly anyone chuckled at what he was doing, and it made me feel some of the strongest second-hand embarrassment I'd felt in my life. It reminded me of when Ninja, the Fortnite streamer, tried to get Times Square to floss on New Years Eve -- and no one did it. Scarily bad.
But there it was; the inescapable prison.
I couldn't imagine what it would be like to hop off the side and try to swim to shore. The water's so cold, it's so far away... we would have done the tour but that stuff is expensive, long, and the wait is more than we could have planned for since we only had a day. We tossed a coin into the ocean for good luck, and took one last picture -- the best picture, I think.
It was great fun.
On the way back, we lost Titus again (and this time actually panicked), to which he came back and explained he'd only left to get a shake. The server didn't understand English, so he ended up with an ice cream cone after enough debate to make us wonder where he went. We walked back, hopped on a cable car (first time I'd ever ridden one!) and ended up having to pay for it. It was cramped and hot, but I'm starting to think that's just the experience of the city, you know?
In the end, when we had done what we came to do and left when the sun was setting, it was the ride back that made me realize how great the day had been. From switching drivers, to fighting over songs, to rapping over lo-fi, I came to see the journey as more than just a trip to see some places and get some things. I had done this with my friends, and that's what made it special.
21 now. All downhill from here, ha ha. Sorry the blog took so long, I'm busier than I want to be but I can still make time for these things! Media update coming soon!
Until next time -- keep reading, friends.
