It was an uncharacteristically cool summer Saturday here in LA when Hui Chin and I took off to California Adventure Land. I think I’ve totally mellowed out when it comes to theme park rides. I was even a little freaked out by the Jumping Jellyfish. The Jumping Jellyfish is a little bit like the Tower of Terror, except that it goes up and down at the same speed as mercury in a room thermometer.

California Adventure Land was pale in comparison to the main Disney Park but I still had a lot of fun. It was crazy when we had to look for food at night. All the resturants had a minimum wait of 45 minutes and there were lines that were an hour and a half long. We ended up eating Cajun at the Jazz Kitchen. The chicken strips they served us had enough salt to float an internet start up.

Hui Chin turned 23 yesterday. Per instruction from my Mom, we had lunch at Hometown Buffet so that she could get her two birthday drumsticks. The significance of eating two drumsticks on your birthday is to increase your opportunities to see the world. The way I see it, all that food will only land you in the gym on a bike that takes you nowhere.

At the Schubert Theater, later in the evening, we caught Ma Ma Mia, a musical featuring 22 of ABBA’s greatest hits. It was a really light, really fun and energy packed show. Throughout the play I found myself wanting to hop out of my seat to bust some disco moves. The main thing that probably held me back was the realization that I did not have any disco moves. Sadly, the only “moves” I possess share a very close resemblance to a rubber chicken being choked violently by its neck.

The most remarkable thing about the Renaissance Fair was probably its ability to whisk you off into the past as though you just walked through a time portal or a magic mirror. The fair was held on the dusty doorstep of the San Bernadino mountains, not the most comfortable but definitely the most suitable.

The fairground was organized into several sections, mainly the Queens Court, the market place, an artisans’ square and a Middle Eastern village. The place was packed with activity, Musketeer duels under huge shady trees, jolly jugglers prancing around in tights, blacksmiths pounding glowing metal into swords, tight ropists balancing their way over giant moats, knights jousting for honor, travelling quartets and quintets, magic shows, royal processions, magic shows, story telling, maids doing their laundry by the well…

Everyone who participated at the fair spoke as if they had Shakespeare printed on their tongues. Even more amazing was that they did not seem to be making a conscious effort to speak in that manner.

The food was truly authentic to the time period and food servers were rough and rowdy as you would expect them to be. Oh and I forgot to mention, cleavage was abundant.

Evening came and it was time to step into the whirling oval before us. And boom, Hui Chin and I were out in the parking lot searching for my car.

Captains log. The date is 5, 5 2001 AD 1900 hours. We’ve got half an hour to clean all that dust off our body and head on to Any’s birthday at Claim Jumpers. We were told that Claims served portions of massive proportion. The word on the street held true and I had pork chops for the next two days.

After Claim Jumpers we all headed over to Sophie’s for a post-pig-out party to cut Annie’s cake and hence to eat some more. It was the first time Hui Chin and I had seen Sophie and John’s. Really nice house, with a really nice garden, a really big TV and no furniture.