5 posts tagged “missions”

It seems like a while ago now because I've been really busy but the Sharks game deserves to have a little mentioned about it in here. D and I drove up on Friday and stayed in a decent hotel, with jacuzzi--ftw. We arrived and promptly ordered chinese and played WoW. Saturday was more WoW playing and the game. We only had to walk down the street to be at the HP Pavillion. The people there were really kind of desperate in their love for the Sharks. I realized there that D and I are just fans, those people are fanatic. It was an ocean of teal. Torrey didn't play so I was a bit disappointed. The game was a good one. I'm really glad we went.

Sunday bloomed early and we played more WoW and got ready to head home. I wanted to see some missions and we started at Mission San Jose in Fremont. I loved the ceiling of this mission. I thought the raw wood and chandelier effect was beautiful. The altar was simple and elegant. I love missions so hard. I wish this one had better grounds but it was pretty high up there in rating. It's small and I think I would like to see it when it isn't raining. Maybe we will visit it again.

I don't know why I like missions so much. D has a theory that it is because they are like art rather than religion and that is as sound as anything else that I can think up. I am always looking at the altar and because I'm not that well versed in biblical stories or religious iconography I don't know what it is depicting but I like it all the same. I loved San Juan Capistrano and it didn't have a chapel though so it isn't a pre-requisite. I think I'm going to collect the mission figurines from each place we go.

Mission Santa Cruz was a bit of a dud. It was one wing of the quad structure. The rest had been destroyed when the church lost control of the mission. I only liked one room from the museum and that was the Ohlone Indian family room. I did like that they had guided tours. I don't think any of the other missions have had them. The neighborhood was a little built up around it and it made me very sad. I like when the mission maintains its sense of personality and presence. Santa Cruz should be sad for what they have compared to other places.

The last mission was a bit of a disappointment for me. It was touted as being the most beautiful and elaborate missions and San Juan Capistrano beat it's grounds and La Purisma beat it's chapel. I liked it alright but it wasn't the best. It's set up is elaborate thougn there are museums everywhere, showing all kinds of things. The altar was pretty gaudy. I mean that more so than they normally are. I think my favorite part of the structure, other than it's facade was the acoustics. It was something you would have to hear to appreciate. The graveyard was another really interesting thing. The graves are covered in abalone shells. It was neat. The one thing I wanted was to see the sea behind it. It should have been oceanside.

And full circle to WoW. I have made two new characters, another priest and a warrior. I am still going to play my main character most of the time but I have the others for when D is at work or asleep.

So I just finished reading Holly Black's Valiant and I was a bit disappointed in the second book. It had only a couple of pages of Roiben and Kaye and I never truly liked the heroine Val. Not to mention the needle drug use, indiscriminate unprotected sex and stealing, while a plot point, really didn't set well with me. I only liked two characters in the entire book, Luis and Ravus, and I just felt like Val was a real cunt to both of them through most of the book. Maybe I just don't understand. I thought this particular book was just a collection of all those things I never want my sister to ever do. I am a little scared to read Ironside now. Even though I know it is centered around Roiben and Kaye again, I still worry that it will be as unenjoyable as Valiant. I am glad that Valiant wasn't the first book in the series or I wouldn't have read any further.

The second book in my 20 in 20 is going to be You Suck: A Love Story by Christopher Moore. It is based from the characters in Bloodsucking Fiends and it's been forever since I read that but I am sure that it won't be too hard picking up where that left off. I do have to say this will go nicely with the vampire theme I have going. I will be late in reading this though as I do plan to read Ironside first. But I will read it next. Then I have a pile of books that I had hopes of reading this week and I feel woefully behind already.

Saturday, D and I woke up a little late and nixed our plans for the day to go to Ikea instead. We got a shelf for my bedroom for all the extra books I have. I also picked him up an Ivy and a couple of bamboo for his office. I wanted him to have something that would cheer it up some because it is really sterile looking and nondescript. I am thinking that I am going to steal some spider plant babies from out front of our apartment complex and plant them in a little planter for him too. I have faith that this office can look homey. He did get his poster from Despair.com framed and they called this morning to say that it was done.

Speaking of which, we are going to take my Twilight poster to get framed this week. Then it will be hung in my bedroom above my bed. I still have two extra big posters. I don't know what I might do with them. They all have the old release date on them too. So they will be worth something when the new posters come out. I'm greedy because I want one of them too. I don't think it's too much to ask... one of each... even if I don't have the room to frame and hang them both. Maybe I could just get another 11"x17" with the new date on it.

  Yesterday D and I got up early and we went San Diego-wise on a mission for missions. I know that I am the only person under the age of 35 that gets excited about missions but I find them totally fascinating. I love all the religious iconography and the architecture. San Luis Rey was a bit of a dud though. I hate anyplace that tells you that you can't take pictures inside. I get my panties in a twist and I just become sneaky then. The other thing about this mission was the fact that most areas were cordoned off. I couldn't go in to see the gardens. I like to be able to walk into the rooms and see the old bedrooms and kitchens. This place put the beds in a "museum" setting all out of context. Truly sad. Oh and they were really expensive. Like $6 bucks a piece to see nothing and photograph little. I'm glad that I rebelled and took a ton of photos. They totally had it coming.

The second mission that we went to was in San Diego and was called San Diego de Alcala. I had never been to the area before and it was nice and tree-y. The mission was on a hill and has the distiction of being the first mission. I thought it was pretty, not as nice as San Juan Capistrano or as sprawling as La Purisma, but pretty.  It's compact and the real eye candy is the modern statuary. They had a couple of Pietas that were like a goldmine for photos. But still what I liked the most was the fountain. I just can't seem to walk by one and not love it. The one thing about this mission though was the decrepit old woman working the gift shop that took about 5 minutes per customer regardless of how thrifty and small your purchase was. I felt horrible about paying admission for the mission because she whipped out the map and started going over it with us. Sorry if you were behind us.

I just got a call from my mother, I knew it was bad news because that is the only time she calls. It would seem my sister had a seizure last night. They took her to the hospital and they did bloodwork and a cat scan on her and they couldn't find anything but that only worries me more. At least if they found something they would know what caused it. At this point the only thing the doctor could give them was that maybe she was too warm in her sleeping bag. I hate being far from home at times like this. If I could see her and know with my own two eyes that she seemed whole and hale without effects maybe it would settle me. Instead I feel it is one more time bomb that I am adding to the arsenal. Some time this too, will come back to bite me in the ass.

Today I got to visit the Mission of San Gabriel and I had such a nice time. It was really hot but not so stifling that we had a bad go of it.  The grounds aren't as extensive as San Juan Capistrano or La Purisma and it wasn't as quaint as Santa Ynez but it had a charm of it's own. I liked the cactus gardens all around and the rusted metal. They had these wrought iron grave markers that I just loved. I was hoping that they would have something similar in the gift shop but they didn't. I would have bought a few if they had something. The chapel was pretty standard except for the statues that they had in the prayer candle areas. They were dramatic and gorgeous. I also took note that the windows were stain glassed green. I've never noticed the windows in the other chapels before. I will make it a point to look from now on. I think my favorite part of the whole campus was the candle and soap making pits. They really impressed me. I liked them a lot. D and I are going to either the Mission in Santa Barbara or San Diego for our anniversary. I'm really excited about it. I love the missions.

I had to go back to Leffingwell Landing before we left the area this morning. If I lived in Cambria I would be there daily. Hell, I would know each sea star by shape and color. It wasn't as busy this morning as it was yesterday but there were people down in the tide pools. A nice woman pointed out the sea star I saw today. It was really nice and we will have to go back again and not wait so long between visits next time.

Next we swung through Morro Bay. I never really get excited about the big rock but this is the second time D and I drove out to it. Really, it's a mountain in the water--there's nothing much more about it. There is a fair amount of sea life around the docks but we didn't stop and walk around this time.

This seems like a good time to bitch about bathrooms while traveling. They are really not well taken care of and it makes travel so uncomfortable. In South Africa the bathrooms were really clean. They had attendants at many of the bathrooms and I guess I expect that kind of service everywhere now.

The next place we stopped was La Purisma Mission in Lompoc. Lompoc didn't have one place that could serve me a garden or boca burger. Everywhere we went we ordered and then had them come tell us that they couldn't serve us. I started developing a complex. I expect people to tell me that I can't eat now. And the small side of steamed vegetables I did get were sad. I never thought I would say that I missed LA but I missed being able to get a vegetarian option that wasn't french fries.

  Back to La Purisma. When we got there the parking attendant had a baby goat and he let me pet it and immediately this place was my favorite place in Lompoc. The last time I was at La Purisma they had reenactors and I got sweet talked by a dear mislead Mexican man who told me my place was in the kitchen. He made me nails so I forgave him for this backward thinking. They didn't have them there today and it made me sad. We had a good time all the same walking the grounds. I love the feel of the place but I hate the floors. They are old stone flooring and they are uneven and I have a hard time with flat flooring. The chapel was one of my favorite places that we saw. It's so long and there are no seats. It's all open. You can imagine what it would be like to be there for service. Personally, I would like to sleep there. The other part that I like is one particular bedroom in the Blacksmith Shop, but it wasn't open for viewing today.

I would love to go back to La Purisma when they have another reenactment. I think I will have D call up and find out when they have special days.

After that we went to Jalama Beach in Lompoc. We took a quick walk on the beach and watched the waves come in. It was rather windy so we didn't stay too long. The one time we were at Jalama we found awesome driftwood but we weren't at the strip of beach today. We have talked about camping there sometime. Getting a tent and staying there. I think it might be fun. Of course that means no heaters when I get cold and I probably will freak at being subject to the whim of everyone who walks by. I can truly imagine a million things that could happen that will make my pleasant experience terrifying.

It didn't take long from there to come home. We listened to more of Eclipse and the time just flew by. I'm a bit sad to have the weekend be over. I had such a good time. I am happy to be home now though. Nothing beats life with the purrpurrs. But it is so nice up the Central Coast.