Two Plus Two Newer Archives - ZOMG!!!!! zero + OurHouse (Trip Report)

Some belated trip report updates:

There are a bunch of things we did since the last TR including...

<ul type="square">Going to Seaside
Zero's surgery
Meeting Zurv and the family
Going to Toronto[/list]It's a long post that we kept wanting to make, but never did. Zero enjoys writing much more than I do. We've both been super busy and haven't had much time to get the photos together for an update. I got hold of her camera and decided to give it a go.

Seaside Heights

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At the end of July, we took a ride down to seaside while still in NJ. We did most of the standard boardwalk/beach/amusement park stuff that people do. Hitting up the arcade was first on the list, but that got a little boring after a few minutes. It's pretty sad to see old ladies sitting addicted to the slot machines (that only pay tickets for prizes) at places like this. We were there for about only 30-45 minutes, and the most noteworthy highlights were the western game, skeeball, and whack-a-mole. The western game is a life-sized saloon and outside area with targets (I'm sure most of you have seen these games) and it's pretty cool if you like shooting. Zero is one hell of a shot. I didn't play the game, but I'm pretty sure that zero had to hit every single target at least once before we were allowed to move on. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img] However, I do remember owning at both skeeball and whack-a-mole though.

After leaving the arcade, we stopped for some food and headed across to the rides that were about 15 minutes down the boardwalk. We saw this one game that neither of us could believe.

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That poor geek had the most demeaning job EVER. We felt soooo bad for whomever was working under that suit.

We had the chance to get on two rides before realizing that we were there almost 3 hours and had to head back to the car before the meter expired. On the way to the rides and back, we hit up some of those scammy games and completely destroyed the system for lots of prizes. We're both +EV at carnival games. Seaside was probably happy to see us leave.

Although not dressed for the beach, we wanted to go onto the one between piers at Seaside. It was overcrowded and overpriced, so we decided against it. Spontaneously, we went to Long Branch (a small beach farther up the NJ coast) after leaving Seaside Heights. Nothing too eventful happened while we were there except for my ghey-looking, rolled-up-to-stay-dry jean shorts. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

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Zero's Surgery

As zero mentioned in an earlier post, the day surgery was an overall success. I dropped her off at the hospital at around 11am and she was ready to go home by 4pm. Unfortunately, the hospital had some sort of dicky policy about only immediate family being able to stay with the day surgery patients. They told me I had to go home and then pick her up from some ramp on the ground floor when it was over and they called me. I gave them a bit of a hard time, and all I was able to accomplish was the ability to meet her outside of the recovery room immediately afterwards. We have no bloody nose pics, sorry.

Zero was fine the next day, and we jumped in the car the next day to leave Kingston for Toronto. On the way...

Meeting Zurvan and his Family

Toronto is where zero's originally from. We planned to go to see her parents after surgery. Zurvan lives about 20-30 minutes east of Toronto. We made arrangements ahead of time to stop by and say hello. Here's a shot I snapped of Zurv, his wife, Tikababy (actual names withheld), zero and Zurv/Tika's precious little Mia. Mia liked to stare at me. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Maybe it was my weird NJ accent.

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They were really fun and friendly. Zurv is different than you would imagine from his online persona, although I'm not sure how. He didn't seem as shy as he originally said he would be (maybe because we had spent so much time talking on AIM the preceeding months). Tika was more outgoing. She seemed like the type to drag Zurv out to parties and get-togethers that he didn't really want to attend. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

We had originally planned to have dinner with Zurv and Tika, but zero's parents wanted us to their house for dinner the first night (I hadn't met them yet at this point) and they didn't tell us until that day. Either way, we had a good time and would definitely go back to visit again.

KM, once again we've had the chance to meet other poggers to test their existence. No matter what you think, they are actual people. WE'RE NOT BOTS! K? [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Toronto & Meeting The Parents

Ahhhh...the moment of truth. Here's what I expected:

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It wasn't that bad. Actually, it wasn't bad at all.

Zero's parents were pretty hospitable. Her father definitely liked me more than her mom (her mom didn't dislike me though). We spent the first day at their house having dinner with them and zero's brother. After dinner, we took a ride with zero's brother and hung out for a bit while he washed his car at their house. When he left, zero and I took a walk on Bloor St. West in Bloor Village, zero's old neighborhood.

We stayed at the parents' house in Toronto for 5 days total. The visit was pretty eventful. Aside from immediate family, I had the chance to meet a bunch of extended family (two aunts, some cousins, a cousin's new baby) as well as her brother's roommate and girlfriend, and about 10-12 of zero's friends from downtown Toronto and the surrounding areas.

While there, we had the chance to see the CN Tower (tallest building in the world, I believe). Some shots from the elevator on the way up:

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Once we got to the top, we stopped by this cafe for about 10 minutes to get some lattes.

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Here's a view of the city from the window of the cafe:

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Next to the cafe is an area with the CN Tower's famous glass floor. I'm afraid of heights, but was able to gather enough courage to stand on two blocks of it. I remember zero calling me a pussy as she was standing on the whole thing at the other end. Even little kids were running and jumping around on that thing. Whatever. Here's a look through the floor:

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That night, we hung out with some of zero's friends downtown. We played pool at this pretty nice pool hall and afterwards, went to a crappy bar across the street that did last call at 12:40 and threw us out before 1am.

The next night, zero and I went to Yuck Yuck's Comedy Club. None of her friends were able to make it, so we went solo. I guess they knew what they were doing because the comedians were pretty bad that night.

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A lot of other stuff happened, but the stories are even more tl;dr than the ones already told.

Now, we're back in Kingston after moving my things out of NJ (see the other thread for that) and visiting the parentals a 2nd time. Classes started again for zero. Poker started again for OH. We're back around, and our internet time allowance is slowly returning to (what used to be) (ab)normal.