It's mad cows, sweet bananas, shadows in the night, and of course hot love & quotes!

Lots of thanks to Tom for the additional pictures!

October 31st marks a special day on the calendar. It's my parent's anniversary! Makes you wonder how the wedding went. Oh yeah, and that other holiday when it's actually normal to dress up as. "A girl can just get any outfit and skank it up, and a guy can borrow a lady friend's dress...instant Halloween costume." That's a quote from the Halloween editorial in the Sonoma State Star. Eh...you won't find none of that here. Yeah...riiiiight. Anyways, on to the reportage!

Tom made plans to drive up to Sonoma State on Halloween for a visit. Albert also made plans to arrange a cosplay gathering at Winchester Mystery House. Ever since I was in first grade, I've always wanted to visit the mansion. I've seen a few Discovery Channel specials on the history of the house. I've always found it interesting. Though we wouldn't be on the tour, just seeing the actual place is good enough. Chris and Angie expressed interest in this mini event as well.

First, I had to get class out of the way. Tom arrived in the morning. We played Para Para Exhibition to kill time. We saw some cosplayers outside. We saw two Matrix cosplayers (Niobe and a Neo chick), Mario Brothers, and Kotori as Holly Goolighty. After making lunch, I took him to Ives Hall where I had my theatre class. He was dressed up as Yuuichi Kayama from Sakura Taisen, while I decided to wear Orihime Soletta. We took a few pics on stage and in the music rooms.

Class started. I introduced Tom to Arashi. Ironically, I had a diabolical scheme to hook those two up, but didn't get around too it. ^_^;; She was dressed as a cute EGL. So we just go over the dance steps to the show. We even video taped it. It felt like watching a Sakura Taisen rehearsal since I was performing in my Orihime dress. Also, my classmates started making comments about Tom. ^_^;;; Hehe...Kit adores him. Hehe.

It was starting to rain outside. Tom told me he ran into Mike on the way to theatre class. (He had to run back to my apartment to get something). I checked my mail, and looks like I got my Candi in the mail! *^^* We walked to the post office under the umbrella and went back. We made final preparations to leave for San Jose. We left at about 4: 45. Traffic was long as hell! x.x;; There was rain here and there. We reached Oakland at 6: 30 you can believe it or not! I called Masako if the Winchester deal was still on. Indeed it was. We didn't arrive to Milpitas until 7PM. Chris and Angie joined us there for a mini dinner. Lots of kids were trick or treating in the Ton-that neighborhood.

We left at 7: 30 for Winchester. On the way to the freeway, Tom realizes he forgot his camera. We retrieve the camera and then get on our way. Angie and Chris arrive there before us. We got lost. ^_^;; So, we ended up at Winchester at about 8ish. I called Masako asking where they were. She said that they were in the gardens. We looked around for the area. Some of us started calling out cosplayers names seeing if we can get a response.

We eventually find the area. (yay!) We stuck around for a bit. Met up with Ziggy, Moo, Lionel, Albert, Masako, Zhin, Gabriel, and company. Tom and I stuck around a while longer just to take pictures in front of the house. Maybe we'll actually tour the house one of these days...

Afterwards, Angie and Chris decide to go their own way. Tom and I met up with the rest of the gang at Milpitas Golfland. First thing I headed for was the Para Para machine. I was quite surprised to run into Stella there! ^^ Talked to her for a bit. Played some quality DDR with Tom. Yes, I DDR'ed in high heels, you can believe that or not. The original plan was to change into Kyoko, but since we were aleady being rushed, we felt like staying in costume. Noriko and friends wanted to see dance moves as performed by Travling Valentine. I was finally introduced to Rival Schools. Tom decided to play the arcade game. I was quite tired by then, so I just watched him play. Hehe...I love Kyoko. *^^*

The next order of bussiness was to have late night snacks at Denny's. Albert finds out that Noriko and company are in the Denny's in Mission. When the other arcade hall closed, we just gathered in the courtyard to talk about social issues as told by Lionel. Very educational. Said "bye bye" to Stella, and we all headed off to Denny's. I ordered my usual at Denny's - buffalo wings. Denny's basically consisted of decent night time chat. Learned about Masako and Zhin's adventures in international student madness. Masako did an audition for me for a potential Azumanga fandub. I met Ami and Juan, and we talked Kill Bill. ^_^ It was getting late, and Tom was starting to fall asleep. We said "bye bye" to everyone present. Thanks to his Eurohighness for organizing this get together!

I woke up the next morning feeling quite sick. Victoria couldn't feel her muscles from her torso down, and she could barely get up from bed. She didn't even party hard either. o.o; Yes, she could wiggle her big toe, and the others, but she simply could not get up. Luckily, Tom was very nice to provide her necessary medical needs, with breakfast included. Thank you, my valentine! The next days consisted of Matrix agents and Crazy 88 cosplay fun! ^^